en هماتولوژی Hematology مقاله مروری Review Article <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">We evaluated the most common indices to compare their sensitivity and specificity to introduce the most sensitive and specific index. We systematically searched five international indexing databases up to Dec 2018. For each index, we measured the diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), as well as summary ROC (SROC) curve which was used to compare the performance of each index. Deeks̕ tests of all discriminant indices indicated that there is no potential publication bias. The area under curves (AUCs) of all discriminant indices indicate overall good differential performance. The M/H ratio index was more sensitive and specific compared to other studied indices. In this meta-analysis, the M/H ratio index was more potential to discriminate iron deficiency anemia (IDA) from thalassemia trait. However, we cannot use this index alone to achieve the final diagnosis. The capability of this index to discriminate IDA from thalassemia trait must be used alongside with the common laboratory procedure to ensure the final differentiation.</span></div> Iron deficiency anemia, Thalassemia, Systematic review, Meta-analysis, Diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) 16 29 http://modernmedlab.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-63-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mina Jahangiri bioinfo2003@gmail.com 10031947532846001438 10031947532846001438 No Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran Fakher Rahim bioinfo2003@gmail.com 10031947532846001439 10031947532846001439 Yes Thalassemia and Hemoglobinopathy Research Center, Research Institute of Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran Amal Saki Malehi bioinfo2003@gmail.com 10031947532846001440 10031947532846001440 No Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran Seyed Mohammad Sadegh Pezeshki bioinfo2003@gmail.com 10031947532846001441 10031947532846001441 No Thalassemia and Hemoglobinopathy Research Center, Research Institute of Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran Mina Ebrahimi bioinfo2003@gmail.com 10031947532846001442 10031947532846001442 No Thalassemia and Hemoglobinopathy Research Center, Research Institute of Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran