Table 3.
Sensitivity and specificity of reported symptoms for diagnosing malaria1 among patients attending a peripheral health facility in Kabale District, SW Uganda.
| Presenting symptoms | Malaria case1 (%): n = 392 | Not malaria case (%): n = 1187 | P- value2 | Sensitivity (%) | Specificity (%) | Positive predictive value (%) | Negative predictive value (%) |
| Headache | 332 (84.7) | 962 (81.0) | P = 0.009 | 84.7 | 19.0 | 25.7 | 21.1 |
| Joint pain | 287 (73.2) | 947 (79.8) | P = 0.009 | 73.2 | 20.2 | 23.3 | 30.4 |
| History of fever | 293 (74.7) | 936 (78.9) | n.s. | 74.7 | 21.1 | 23.8 | 28.3 |
| Loss of appetite | 239 (61.0) | 747 (62.9) | n.s. | 61.0 | 37.0 | 24.3 | 25.8 |
| Vomiting | 232 (59.2) | 619 (52.1) | P = 0.03 | 59.2 | 47.9 | 27.3 | 22.0 |
| General weakness | 216 (55.1) | 648 (54.6) | n.s. | 55.1 | 45.4 | 25.0 | 24.6 |
| Rigors | 76 (19.4) | 190 (16.0) | n.s. | 19.4 | 84.0 | 28.6 | 24.1 |
| Cough | 75 (19.1) | 236 (19.9) | n.s. | 19.1 | 80.1 | 24.1 | 25.0 |
| Dizziness | 48 (12.2) | 137 (11.5) | n.s. | 12.2 | 88.5 | 25.9 | 24.7 |
| Abdominal pain | 50 (12.8) | 96 (8.1) | P = 0.03 | 12.8 | 91.9 | 34.2 | 23.9 |
| Backache | 17 (4.3) | 58 (4.9) | n.s. | 4.3 | 95.1 | 22.7 | 24.9 |
| Flu-like symptoms | 17 (4.3) | 40 (3.4) | n.s. | 4.3 | 96.6 | 29.8 | 24.6 |
1Malaria case defined as: parasitaemia and axillary temperature ≥ 37.5°C
2 χ2 values calculated using log likelihood, df = 1; n.s. not significant