Dataset Information

Diagnostic accuracy of age and alarm symptoms for upper GI malignancy in patients with dyspepsia in a GI clinic: a 7-year cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

We investigated whether using demographic characteristics and alarm symptoms can accurately predict cancer in patients with dyspepsia in Iran, where upper GI cancers and H. pylori infection are common.

Methods

All consecutive patients referred to a tertiary gastroenterology clinic in Tehran, Iran, from 2002 to 2009 were invited to participate in this study. Each patient completed a standard questionnaire and underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Alarm symptoms included in the questionnaire were weight loss, dysphagia, GI bleeding, and persistent vomiting. We used logistic regression models to estimate the diagnostic value of each variable in combination with other ones, and to develop a risk-prediction model.

Results

A total of 2,847 patients with dyspepsia participated in this study, of whom 87 (3.1%) had upper GI malignancy. Patients reporting at least one of the alarm symptoms constituted 66.7% of cancer patients compared to 38.9% in patients without cancer (p<0.001). Esophageal or gastric cancers in patients with dyspepsia was associated with older age, being male, and symptoms of weight loss and vomiting. Each single predictor had low sensitivity and specificity. Using a combination of age, alarm symptoms, and smoking, we built a risk-prediction model that distinguished between high-risk and low-risk individuals with an area under the ROC curve of 0.85 and acceptable calibration.

Conclusions

None of the predictors demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy. While our risk-prediction model had reasonable accuracy, some cancer cases would have remained undiagnosed. Therefore, where available, low cost endoscopy may be preferable for dyspeptic older patient or those with history of weight loss.

SUBMITTER: Khademi H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3374763 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Diagnostic accuracy of age and alarm symptoms for upper GI malignancy in patients with dyspepsia in a GI clinic: a 7-year cross-sectional study.

Khademi Hooman H Radmard Amir-Reza AR Malekzadeh Fatemeh F Kamangar Farin F Nasseri-Moghaddam Siavosh S Johansson Mattias M Byrnes Graham G Brennan Paul P Malekzadeh Reza R

PloS one 20120613 6

<h4>Objectives</h4>We investigated whether using demographic characteristics and alarm symptoms can accurately predict cancer in patients with dyspepsia in Iran, where upper GI cancers and H. pylori infection are common.<h4>Methods</h4>All consecutive patients referred to a tertiary gastroenterology clinic in Tehran, Iran, from 2002 to 2009 were invited to participate in this study. Each patient completed a standard questionnaire and underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Alarm symptoms inc ...[more]

PMID: 22720064

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Project description:ObjectiveAge and alarm features are commonly used as indicators for endoscopy in dyspeptic patients; however, the age cut-off and the predictive value of these parameters for identifying upper gastrointestinal (UGI) malignancies are uncertain.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingData were extracted from the Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Centre of Siriraj Hospital, Thailand, during 2005-2011.ParticipantsConsecutive patients underwent a first-time upper endoscopy for dyspepsia. Patients with previous surgery, suspected UGI malignancy by imaging, or indefinite biopsy results on prior examination were excluded.Main outcome measuresAlarm features included dysphagia, unintentional weight loss, GI bleeding/anaemia, and persistent vomiting. The diagnostic performance of each alarm feature and different age cut-off values were evaluated.ResultsA total of 4664 patients (mean age: 52.0±14.4 years, 66% female) were included. Alarm symptoms were presented in 21.6%. The prevalence of active Helicobacter pylori infection was 26.3%. Fifty-eight (1.2%) patients had UGI malignancy. The prevalence of malignancy significantly increased with increasing age (0.6% in patients aged <50 years, and 1.8% in patients aged >60 years (p<0.001)). Cancer was found in two patients aged <50 years who did not have alarm features. Patients with alarm features had a higher prevalence of malignancy (OR 22.3, 95% CI 10.5 to 47.4; p<0.001) than those without. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of alarm features for UGI malignancy were 87.0%, 79.1%, 4.7% and 99.8%, respectively. Among all age groups, persistent vomiting had a positive likelihood ratio (PLR) >10, while dysphagia and GI bleeding/anaemia had a PLR >10 in patients <50 years old.ConclusionDespite the overall limited value of age and alarm features, persistent vomiting, dysphagia, and GI bleeding/anaemia are strong predictors for malignancy in patients aged <50 years. Without these symptoms, cancer prevalence is negligible; thus, they are worthy guidance for endoscopic evaluation in this age group.

Project description:Cancers of the upper gastro-intestinal tract, including esophagus (gullet), stomach and small bowel, are amongst the deadliest malignancies. The main reason for their high mortality rate is that they are usually diagnosed late when curative treatments are no longer effective. However, these types of cancer generally arise from well-described pre-cancerous diseases, such as Barrett’s esophagus and gastric intestinal metaplasia. This provides an opportunity for clinicians to detect these pre-cancerous conditions early and offer adequate cure or clinical monitoring before they progress to cancer. A camera test (gastroscopy) is the gold-standard test to detect pre-cancerous diseases in these organs. There has been limited research to set the standards for performance of a gastroscopy, especially with regards to diagnosis of pre-cancerous conditions, which require knowledge and skills by the physician performing the test (endoscopist). Therefore, the hypothesis behind this study is that the aforementioned pre-cancerous diseases are understudied and often go undetected. This study aims to understand how often endoscopists should diagnose these pre-cancerous diseases on routine gastroscopy and help define the standards to measure performance. The investigators will assess the following rates: i. how often endoscopists diagnose these pre-cancerous lesions during endoscopy; ii. How often these conditions are diagnosed on biopsies taken according to a standardized protocol; iii. How often these condition should have been diagnosed by the endoscopists based on the review of pictures by expert endoscopists. The investigators will also compare the rates of correct diagnosis by endoscopists with different levels of experience and based on the times spent to complete the diagnostic test. Investigating these aspects will enhance the understanding of the medical community with regards to the diagnosis of these pre-cancerous lesions and set endoscopy standards to improve their early detection and treatment before they progress to cancer. This will translate to improved cancer prevention and benefit for patients.

Project description:Symptoms have been used to diagnose conditions such as frailty and mental illnesses. However, the diagnostic accuracy of the numbers of symptoms has not been well studied. This study aims to use equations and simulations to demonstrate how the factors that determine symptom incidence influence symptoms' diagnostic accuracy for disease diagnosis. Assuming a disease causing symptoms and correlated with the other disease in 10,000 simulated subjects, 40 symptoms occurred based on 3 epidemiological measures: proportions diseased, baseline symptom incidence (among those not diseased), and risk ratios. Symptoms occurred with similar correlation coefficients. The sensitivities and specificities of single symptoms for disease diagnosis were exhibited as equations using the three epidemiological measures and approximated using linear regression in simulated populations. The areas under curves (AUCs) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves was the measure to determine the diagnostic accuracy of multiple symptoms, derived by using 2 to 40 symptoms for disease diagnosis. With respect to each AUC, the best set of sensitivity and specificity, whose difference with 1 in the absolute value was maximal, was chosen. The results showed sensitivities and specificities of single symptoms for disease diagnosis were fully explained with the three epidemiological measures in simulated subjects. The AUCs increased or decreased with more symptoms used for disease diagnosis, when the risk ratios were greater or less than 1, respectively. Based on the AUCs, with risk ratios were similar to 1, symptoms did not provide diagnostic values. When risk ratios were greater or less than 1, maximal or minimal AUCs usually could be reached with less than 30 symptoms. The maximal AUCs and their best sets of sensitivities and specificities could be well approximated with the three epidemiological and interaction terms, adjusted R-squared ≥ 0.69. However, the observed overall symptom correlations, overall symptom incidence, and numbers of symptoms explained a small fraction of the AUC variances, adjusted R-squared ≤ 0.03. In conclusion, the sensitivities and specificities of single symptoms for disease diagnosis can be explained fully by the at-risk incidence and the 1 minus baseline incidence, respectively. The epidemiological measures and baseline symptom correlations can explain large fractions of the variances of the maximal AUCs and the best sets of sensitivities and specificities. These findings are important for researchers who want to assess the diagnostic accuracy of composite diagnostic criteria.

Dataset Information

Diagnostic accuracy of age and alarm symptoms for upper GI malignancy in patients with dyspepsia in a GI clinic: a 7-year cross-sectional study.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Diagnostic accuracy of age and alarm symptoms for upper GI malignancy in patients with dyspepsia in a GI clinic: a 7-year cross-sectional study.

Similar Datasets

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