COMPUTATIONAL AND MATHEMATICAL METHODS IN MEDICINE, 2012 (SCI-Expanded)
We aimed to compare the performance of three different individual ROC methods (one from each of the broad categories of parametric, nonparametric and semiparametric analysis) for assessing continuous diagnostic tests: the binormal method as a parametric method, an empirical approach as a nonparametric method, and a semiparametric method using generalized linear models (GLM). We performed a simulation study with various sample sizes under normal, skewed, and monotone distributions. In the simulations, we used estimates of the ROC curve parameters a and b, estimates of the area under the curve (AUC), the standard errors and root mean square errors (RMSEs) of these estimates, and the 95% AUC confidence intervals for comparison. The three methodologies were also applied to an acute coronary syndrome dataset in which serum myoglobin levels were used as a biomarker for detecting acute coronary syndrome. The simulation and application studies suggest that the semiparametric ROC analysis using GLM is a reliable method when the distributions of the diagnostic test results are skewed and that it provides a smooth ROC curve for obtaining a unique cutoff value. A sample size of 50 is sufficient for applying the semiparametric ROC method.