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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2016 Jun 27;215(5):616.e1–616.e14. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2016.06.034

Table 4.

Effect of serial measurements of cervical length (interpreted as absolute length in mm) on the predictive accuracy for preterm birth <32 weeks

Model Thresholds *
(mm)
Predictive accuracy Relative contribution to DR
P1 P2 P3 P4 TP
(n)
FP
(n)
FN
(n)
TN
(n)
DR
(%)
FPR
(%)
PPV
(%)
NPV
(%)
LR+ LR− P-value P1 P2 P3 P4
For FPR of 2%
CL on Period 1 < threshold 26 6 8 26 374 19% 2% 43% 94% 8.95 0.83 Ref 19%
CL on Periods 1 OR 2 < thresholds 23 20 10 8 17 333 37% 2% 56% 95% 15.79 0.64 0.13 13% 37%
CL on Periods 1, 2 OR 3 < thresholds 20 15 10 7 5 14 313 33% 2% 58% 96% 21.20 0.68 0.24 6% 22% 33%
CL on Periods 1, 2, 3 OR 4 < thresholds 15 14 12 10 8 5 5 226 62% 2% 62% 98% 28.43 0.39 0.025 6% 19% 32% 62%
For FPR of 5%
CL on Period 1 < threshold 29 9 21 23 361 28% 5% 30% 94% 5.12 0.76 Ref 28%
CL on Periods 1 OR 2 < thresholds 26 25 13 18 14 323 48% 5% 42% 96% 9.12 0.55 0.22 19% 48%
CL on Periods 1, 2 OR 3 < thresholds 25 23 17 10 15 11 303 48% 5% 40% 96% 10.10 0.55 0.22 13% 44% 48%
CL on Periods 1, 2, 3 OR 4 < thresholds 25 20 15 10 9 11 4 220 69% 5% 45% 98% 14.54 0.32 0.019 13% 37% 40% 69%

CL, cervical length; TP, true positive; FP, false positive; FN, false negative; TN, true negative; DR, detection rate (=sensitivity); FPR, false positive rate (=1-specificity); PPV, positive predictive value; NPV negative predictive value; LR+, positive likelihood ratio; LR−, negative likelihood ratio; P1, Period 1 (18+0 to 21+6 weeks); P2, Period 2 (22+0 to 24+6 weeks); P3, Period 3 (25+0 to 27+6 weeks); P4, Period 4 (28+0 to 32+0 weeks).

The predictive accuracy of serial measurements of cervical length (interpreted as absolute length in mm) for preterm birth <32 weeks was calculated for 4 combinations of serial measurements of cervical length: Period 1 only, Periods 1+2, Periods 1+2+3, and Periods 1+2+3+4.

*

For each of the 4 combinations, the predictive accuracy was calculated using different sets of thresholds. These thresholds were determined using an iteration process that identified the set of thresholds that is associated with the highest detection rate for each of the following target levels of false positive rate: 2% and 5%.