Table 1.

Results of subgroup analyses and accuracy of nitrites in urine dipsticks for the diagnosis of urinary tract infections or bacteriuria according to several predefined study characteristics (subgroups of studies without information about the study characteristic at issue are not shown) (no. of studies: 46)

Study characteristic	N	Sensitivity(95%CI)	Specificity(95%CI)	DOR(95%CI)
BLINDING#
not	12	0.50 (0.43–0.59)	0.89 (0.75–1.00)	44 (19 – 139)
dipstick	25	0.46 (0.38–0.56)	0.91 (0.85–0.96)	28 (27 – 30)
both	8	0.55 (0.36–0.85)	0.96 (0.94–0.98)	99 (41 – 239)
DATA COLLECTION#
prospective	42	0.48 (0.42–0.55)	0.91 (0.86–0.96)	34 (21 – 57)
retrospective	1	0.37 (0.28–0.46)	1.00 (0.99–1.00)	701 (43 – 11565)
CUT-OFF CRITERION STANDARD*
<1000 mcu/ml	5	0.62 (0.56–0.69)	0.92 (0.84–1.00)	32 (9 – 112)
10.000–50.000	9	0.37 (0.28–0.48)	0.93 (0.88–0.98)	18 (6 – 51)
≥100.000	34	0.48 (0.40–0.57)	0.93 (0.87–0.98)	50 (29 – 84)
POPULATION#
general	15	0.50 (0.44–0.58)	0.82 (0.71–0.95)	11 (6 – 21)
children	10	0.50 (0.42–0.60)	0.92 (0.87–0.98)	34 (12 – 97)
pregnant women	10	0.46 (0.38–0.56)	0.98 (0.79–1.00)	165 (73 – 372)
elderly	3	0.71 (0.50–1.00)	0.96 (0.91–1.00)	108 (10 – 1165)
urology	3	0.59 (0.53–0.66)	0.97 (0.94–1.00)	64 (19 – 216)
surgery	3	0.54 (0.39–0.74)	0.96 (0.93–0.99)	34 (25 – 47)
SETTING#
family physician	6	0.53 (0.44–0.65)	0.88 (0.81–0.96)	12 (7 – 21)
outpatient	17	0.45 (0.37–0.56)	0.96 (0.92–0.99)	87 (38 – 198)
emergency	4	0.56 (0.40–0.81)	0.94 (0.90–0.98)	34 (10 – 112)
inpatient	16	0.58 (0.51–0.67)	0.85 (0.74–0.98)	23 (10 – 54)
LEVEL OF CARE
community	2	0.18 (0.04–0.76)	0.99 (0.98–1.00)	78 (34 – 181)
primary	12	0.49 (0.38–0.62)	0.85 (0.73–1.00)	22 (9 – 53)
secondary	11	0.51 (0.40–0.66)	0.89 (0.78–1.00)	61 (15 – 247)
tertiary	21	0.53 (0.46–0.60)	0.94 (0.93–0.96)	39 (22 – 69)

DOR: diagnostic odds ratio, #: DOR significantly different between subgroups, *: If different cut-off points were used within one study population, the results were included as different studies (N = 48).