Table 1.
Agreement among Russian clinicians on evaluation of chest radiographs. Values are κ (95% confidence intervals)
| Radiographic finding | All participants | Tuberculosis specialists | Radiologists | Respiratory specialists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinically important abnormality: | ||||
| Normal (category 1) versus any abnormality (categories 2-5)* | 0.380 (0.376 to 0.384) | 0.368 (0.361 to 0.374) | 0.497 (0.483 to 0.514) | 0.284 (0.257 to 0.311) |
| Categories 1 and 2 versus categories 3-5* | 0.479 (0.475 to 0.482) | 0.466 (0.459 to 0.472) | 0.564 (0.548 to 0.580) | 0.493 (0.466 to 0.520) |
| All five categories* | 0.217 (0.215 to 0.220) | 0.225 (0.221 to 0.229) | 0.252 (0.244 to 0.260) | 0.198 (0.187 to 0.209) |
| Localisation of abnormality†: | 0.448 (0.444 to 0.452) | 0.285 (0.278 to 0.291) | 0.503 (0.487 to 0.519) | 0.342 (0.315 to 0.369) |
| Left upper zone | 0.518 (0.514 to 0.522) | 0.168 (0.161 to 0.174) | 0.496 (0.480 to 0.512) | 0.458 (0.431 to 0.485) |
| Right upper zone | 0.547 (0.523 to 0.551) | 0.441 (0.434 to 0.447) | 0.525 (0.509 to 0.541) | 0.532 (0.504 to 0.559) |
| Left middle zone | 0.355 (0.351 to 0.359) | 0.567 (0.560 to 0.573) | 0.343 (0.327 to 0.359) | 0.283 (0.225 to 0.310) |
| Right middle zone | 0.351 (0.347 to 0.355) | 0.347 (0.340 to 0.353) | 0.331 (0.315 to 0.347) | 0.342 (0.315 to 0.369) |
| Left lower zone | 0.425 (0.421 to 0.429) | 0.356 (0.349 to 0.362) | 0.495 (0.479 to 0.512) | 0.265 (0.238 to 0.292) |
| Right lower zone | 0.378 (0.374 to 0.382) | 0.401 (0.395 to 0.408) | 0.510 (0.493 to 0.526) | 0.226 (0.199 to 0.253) |
| Presence of cavity | 0.433 (0.428 to 0.438) | 0.427 (0.420 to 0.435) | 0.565 (0.545 to 0.583) | 0.244 (0.213 to 0.275) |
| Radiographic findings consistent with tuberculosis | 0.387 (0.382 to 0.391) | 0.377 (0.367 to 0.385) | 0.448 (0.429 to 0.467) | 0.386 (0.355 to 0.416) |
| Form of tuberculosis‡ | 0.272 (0.264 to 0.280) | 0.272 (0.260 to 0.284) | 0.323 (0.301 to 0.345) | 0.199 (0.164 to 0.234) |
| Tuberculosis process active | 0.153 (0.124 to 0.164) | 0.119 (0.103 to 0.136) | 0.244 (0.195 to 0.293) | 0.041 (−0.029 to 0.110) |
*
Categories 1 and 2 reflect certainty that no clinically important abnormality present; categories 3 to 5 reflect some abnormality with clinical importance.
†
κ produced by averaging κ values for each radiological zone.
‡
According to Russian classification: military, focal, caseous pneumonia, cavernous, cirrhotic, tuberculosis of mediastinal lymph nodes, infiltrative, disseminated, tuberculoma, fibrocavernous, pleuritis.