Table 3.

Analysis of agreement between bacterial culture methods

Methods	Kappa coefficient	95% CI	P-value
CM vs. HC	0.35	–0.03,0.72	0.057
CM vs. PCR	0.08	–0.27,0.42	0.33
HC vs. PCR	0.40	0.10,0.70	0.009

Estimate based on Cohen’s kappa coefficient and the test of the null hypothesis that the extent of agreement is the same as random (kappa = 0). p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant

CM, conventional method; HC, hemoculture bottle method; PCR, polymerase chain reaction method