Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24825728›Full record

ArticleStatistics in medicine2014

How to interpret a small increase in AUC with an additional risk prediction marker: decision analysis comes through.

Stuart G Baker, Ewoud Schuit, Ewout W Steyerberg, Michael J Pencina, Andrew Vickers, Andew Vickers, Karel G M Moons, Ben W J Mol, Karen S Lindeman

Erratum issuedAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Statistics in medicine, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 41 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
41citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

41 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Risk prediction for lung cancer screening: a systematic review and meta-regression.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026
    Pooled it
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  19. Assessing the clinical utility of genetic profiling in fracture risk prediction: a decision curve analysis.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2021
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

  • Erratum issued
    Vickers, Andew [corrected to Vickers, Andrew]
  • Erratum issued
5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Stuart G BakerDivision of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 20892, U.S.A.
Ewoud Schuit
Ewout W Steyerberg
Michael J Pencina
Andrew Vickers
Andew Vickers
Karel G M Moons
Ben W J Mol
Karen S Lindeman

Funding

X-RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHYP30CA008748 · NCI · SLOAN-KETTERING INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RES · PI Nicholas D Socci · 1985 to 2026
$347.4M
Intramural NIH HHS Z99 CA999999NCI NIH HHS P30 CA008748
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

An important question in the evaluation of an additional risk prediction marker is how to interpret a small increase in the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Many researchers believe that a change in AUC is a poor metric because it increases only slightly with the addition of a marker with a large odds ratio. Because it is not possible on purely statistical grounds to choose between the odds ratio and AUC, we invoke decision analysis, which incorporates costs and benefits. For example, a timely estimate of the risk of later non-elective operative delivery can help a woman in labor decide if she wants an early elective cesarean section to avoid greater complications from possible later non-elective operative delivery. A basic risk prediction model for later non-elective operative delivery involves only antepartum markers. Because adding intrapartum markers to this risk prediction model increases AUC by 0.02, we questioned whether this small improvement is worthwhile. A key decision-analytic quantity is the risk threshold, here the risk of later non-elective operative delivery at which a patient would be indifferent between an early elective cesarean section and usual care. For a range of risk thresholds, we found that an increase in the net benefit of risk prediction requires collecting intrapartum marker data on 68 to 124 women for every correct prediction of later non-elective operative delivery. Because data collection is non-invasive, this test tradeoff of 68 to 124 is clinically acceptable, indicating the value of adding intrapartum markers to the risk prediction model.

Indexed as

Cesarean SectionDecision Support TechniquesArea Under CurveFemaleHumansKaplan-Meier EstimatePregnancyRisk AssessmentROC CurveAUCcesarean sectiondecision curvesreceiver operating characteristic curvesrelative utility curves

Identifiers

PMID24825728
PMCPMC4156533

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.