Table 3 Comparison of diagnostic accuracy data across 2011 and 2019 NICE guidelines systematic reviews.

From: Options for the diagnosis of high blood pressure in primary care: a systematic review and economic model

 

(1) 2011 Guideline clinical reviewa

(2) 2011 Guideline clinical review (sensitivity analysis)b

(3) 2019 Guideline clinical reviewc

 

Data

95% Confidence interval

Data

95% Confidence interval

Data

95% Confidence interval

Sensitivity

  Clinic BP

75%

61, 84

86%

81, 89

81%

47, 95

  Home BP

86%

78, 91

–

–

90%

68, 98

Specificity

  Clinic BP

75%

48, 90

46%

33, 59

76%

20, 98

  Home BP

62%

48, 75

–

–

84%

53, 96

  1. Ambulatory BP is assumed to have a sensitivity and specificity of 100% as it is the reference standard.
  2. aThis is based on the main meta-analysis from Hodgkinson et al. [2].
  3. bThis is based on the sensitivity analysis from Hodgkinson et al. [2] that excluded studies with a normotensive population. This only affected the Clinic BP data.
  4. cThis data is based on medians because there was a skewed distribution in the accuracy data. Pooling means is only appropriate when data is normally distributed, as reported in section 9.4.5.3 of the Cochrane handbook [11]. The mean diagnostic accuracy data was used in the systematic review included as part of the 2011 guideline.
Back to article page