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. 2008 Mar 26;46(5):1672–1677. doi: 10.1128/JCM.02187-07

TABLE 5.

Comparative sensitivities, specificities, and Youden index for diagnosis of symptomatic laboratory-confirmed pertussisa

Method of diagnosis (cutoff) % Sensitivity (95% CIc) % Specificity (95% CI) Youden index
ptxA-Pr PCR 15.5 (10.4-20.6) 97.3 (95.0-99.6) 0.13
IS481 PCR 44.0 (37.0-51.0) 84.7 (79.6-89.8) 0.29
Single serology (≥100) 67.9 (61.3-74.5) 90.1 (85.9-94.3) 0.58
Paired serology (×2b) 23.8 (17.8-29.8) 83.8 (78.6-89.0) 0.08
Combination of single serology (≥100 EU/ml) with:
    Paired serology (×2) 85.7 (80.8-90.6) 75.7 (69.7-81.7) 0.61
    PtxA Pr PCR 77.4 (71.5-83.3) 87.4 (82.7-92.1) 0.65
    IS481 PCR 90.5 (86.4-94.6) 77.5 (71.6-83.4) 0.68
a

Subjects are contacts of infant pertussis cases for whom there is complete laboratory data (n = 195). Complete data include symptoms, serology, and PCR analysis (IS481 and ptx-Pr) at enrollment and symptoms and serology at follow-up visit 1 month later.

b

×2, twofold change in titer.

c

CI, confidence interval.

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