TY - JOUR
AU - Kanwal, Sandeep
AB - Background and objectives A plethora of research is available on ultrasonographic kidney size standards. We performed a systematic review of methodological quality of ultrasound studies aimed at developing normative renal parameters in healthy children, by evaluating the risk of bias (ROB) using the ‘Anatomical Quality Assessment (AQUA)’ tool. Methods We searched Medline, Scopus, CINAHL, and Google Scholar on June 04 2018, and observational studies measur- ing kidney size by ultrasonography in healthy children (0–18 years) were included. The ROB of each study was evaluated in five domains using a 20 item coding scheme based on AQUA tool framework. Results Fifty-four studies were included. Domain 1 (subject characteristics) had a high ROB in 63% of studies due to the unclear description of age, sex, and ethnicity. The performance in Domain 2 (study design) was the best with 85% of stud- ies having a prospective design. Methodological characterization (Domain 3) was poor across the studies (< 10% compli- ance), with suboptimal performance in the description of patient positioning, operator experience, and assessment of intra/ inter-observer reliability. About three-fourth of the studies had a low ROB in Domain 4 (descriptive anatomy). Domain 5 (reporting of results) had a high ROB in approximately half 
TI - Are normative sonographic values of kidney size in children valid and reliable? A systematic review of the methodological quality of ultrasound studies using the Anatomical Quality Assessment (AQUA) tool
JF - Journal of Nephrology
DO - 10.1007/s40620-018-0500-8
DA - 2018-06-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/springer-journals/are-normative-sonographic-values-of-kidney-size-in-children-valid-and-kK1tmguY3v
SP - 335
EP - 345
VL - 32
IS - 3
DP - DeepDyve
ER -