What is the bivariate method?
The bivariate method is a statistical approach used to estimate summary sensitivity and specificity, which takes into account the correlation between the two metrics. It is achieved through logistic regression on the true positives, true negatives, false positives and false negatives reported in the studies. The bivariate method allows for the calculation of overall sensitivity and specificity, along with confidence regions, and the production of forest plots and pooled diagnostic meta-analysis plots. It also produces summary estimates of sensitivity and specificity that account for the correlation between the two statistics. The bivariate method is used in the evaluation of AUCs (Area Under the Curve) in order to determine the overall effectiveness of a test.