Table 4.

Time to positivity^*

	n	Positives n	Mean time to positive, days	SD days	Mean time to positive, including repeats due to contamination, days	P value vs. solid culture†	P value vs. liquid culture
Solid culture sputum	191	30	30.2	8.1	30.6
Liquid culture sputum	191	35	12.0	7.7	12.8	<0.001
MODS sputum	191	35	10.2	3.7	10.7	<0.001	0.088

^*Time between inoculation and reporting of positive result.

^†Matched pairs t-test.

SD = standard deviation; MODS = microscopic observation drug susceptibility.