To determine the diagnostic accuracy of visual inspection of cervix with acetic acid as a screening tool to detect preinvasive cervical cancer - A meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis was done to estimate the efficacy of visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid (VIA) to screen for the preinvasive stage of carcinoma cervix. This study was done using the PROSPERO database bearing registration number CRD 42023398248. Two researchers independently viewed databases and search engines using PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar systematically from the inception until December 2022 for the search paper in the English language related to VIA as a screening method for carcinoma cervix. A random effect model was used to determine pooled sensitivity and specificity with 95% confidence interval (CI). All the statistical analyses were conducted in the software STATA version 13. This article includes 21 studies. We observed a clinically acceptable pooled sensitivity of 0.80 (95% CI: 0.71 to 0.87) and a pooled specificity of 0.81 (95% CI: 0.70 to 0.88). The discriminatory power of VIA was also acceptable, with a summary receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.87 (95% CI 0.84 to 0.90). Findings of current studies also noted the good likelihood ratio of the VIA test for increasing pretest probability to post-test probability. Our study did not notice significant publication bias (P = 0.10) as observed in Deek's funnel plot asymmetry test graph.