An alternative method for global and partial comparison of two diagnostic systems based on ROC curves

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2013

Authors

Braga, AC (Author) Other; Costa, L (Author) Other; oliveira, p (Author) ICBAS

Journal

Title: Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation

Vol. 83

Pages: 307-325

ISSN: 0094-9655

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 3 Citations

Scopus - 8 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-005-352

DOI: 10.1080/00949655.2011.604635

Abstract (EN): In this paper, an alternative method for the comparison of two diagnostic systems based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves is presented. ROC curve analysis is often used as a statistical tool for the evaluation of diagnostic systems. However, in general, the comparison of ROC curves is not straightforward, in particular, when they cross each other. A similar difficulty is also observed in the multi-objective optimization field where sets of solutions defining fronts must be compared with a multi-dimensional space. Thus, the proposed methodology is based on a procedure used to compare the performance of distinct multi-objective optimization algorithms. In general, methods based on the area under the ROC curves are not sensitive to the existence of crossing points between the curves. The new approach can deal with this situation and also allows the comparison of partial portions of ROC curves according to particular values of sensitivity and specificity of practical interest. Simulations results are presented. For illustration purposes, considering real data from newborns with very low birthweight, the new method was applied in order to discriminate the better index for evaluating the risk of death.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 19