Accuracy, precision, and agreement statistical tests for Bland-Altman method
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Bland and Altman plot method is a graphical plot approach that compares related data sets, supporting the eventual replacement of a measurement method for another one. Perhaps due to its graphical easy output it had been widely applied, however often misinterpreted. We provide three nested tests: accuracy, precision and agreement, as a means to reach statistical support for the equivalence of measurements. These were based on structural regressions added to the method converting it on inferential statistical criteria, verifying mean equality (accuracy), homoscedasticity (precision), and concordance with a bisector line (agreement). A graphical output illustrating these three tests were added to follow Bland and Altman's principles. Five pairs of data sets from previously published articles that applied the Bland and Altman's principles illustrate this statistical approach. In one case it was demonstrated strict equivalence, three cases showed partial equivalence, and there was one case without equivalence. Here we show a statistical approach added to the graphical outputs that turns the Bland-Altman otherwise graphical subjective interpretation into a clear and objective result and with significance value for a reliable and better communicable decision.
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