Table 1.
Diagnostic performance of different test combinatons.
| Valid %* | Sensitivity (95% CI) |
Specificity (95% CI) |
PPV (95% CI) |
NPV (95% CI) |
AUC* | Kappa* | P value* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xpert/RIF on SF | 97.6 | 0.28 (0.19–0.40) | 1.00 (0.80–1.00) | 1.00 (0.83–1.00) | 0.23 (0.15–0.35) | 0.650 | 0.11 | 0.008 |
| Xpert/RIF on SFDFP | 85.5 | 0.36 (0.25–0.48) | 1.00 (0.78–1.00) | 1.00 (0.85–1.00) | 0.27 (0.17–0.40) | 0.679 | 0.16 | 0.359 |
| Smear on SF | 100 | 0.07 (0.03–0.16) | 1.00 (0.77–1.00) | 1.00 (0.57–1.00) | 0.27 (0.17–0.26) | 0.536 | 0.02 | 0.000 |
| Culture on SF | 98.8 | 0.20 (0.12–0.31) | 1.00 (0.76–1.00) | 1.00 (0.78–1.00) | 0.18 (0.10–0.28) | 0.554 | 0.07 | 0.000 |
| Smear on SFDFP | 89.2 | 0.15 (0.08–0.25) | 1.00 (0.76–1.00) | 1.00 (0.70–1.00) | 0.18 (0.11–0.30) | 0.578 | 0.05 | 0.000 |
| Culture on SFDFP | 89.2 | 0.16 (0.09–0.27) | 1.00 (0.76–1.00) | 1.00 (0.72–1.00) | 0.19 (0.11–0.30) | 0.585 | 0.06 | 0.001 |
| Pathology on SFDFP | 86.7 | 0.19 (0.11–0.30) | 1.00 (0.77–1.00) | 1.00 (0.74–1.00) | 0.21 (0.13–0.33) | 0.657 | 0.08 | 0.001 |
| S + C on SF | 100 | 0.24 (0.16–0.35) | 1.00 (0.77–1.00) | 1.00 (0.82–1.00) | 0.20 (0.12–0.31) | 0.621 | 0.09 | 0.002 |
| S + C on SFDFP | 89.2 | 0.16 (0.09–0.27) | 1.00 (0.76–1.00) | 1.00 (0.72–1.00) | 0.19 (0.11–0.30) | 0.585 | 0.06 | 0.001 |
| S + C + P on SFDFP | 90.4 | 0.26 (0.17–0.38) | 1.00 (0.77–1.00) | 1.00 (0.81–1.00) | 0.22 (0.13–0.34) | 0.671 | 0.11 | 0.013 |
| S + C + X on SF | 100 | 0.41 (0.31–0.53) | 1.00 (0.77–1.00) | 1.00 (0.88–1.00) | 0.24 (0.15–0.37) | 0.707 | 0.18 | — |
| S + C + P + X on SFDFP | 91.6 | 0.48 (0.36–0.60) | 1.00 (0.77–1.00) | 1.00 (0.89–1.00) | 0.28 (0.17–0.43) | 0.764 | 0.24 | 1.000 |
| All on SFDFP & SF | 100 | 0.60 (0.48–0.71) | 1.00 (0.77–1.00) | 1.00 (0.92–1.00) | 0.32 (0.20–0.47) | 0.800 | 0.32 | 0.004 |
| Elispot on PBMCs* | 100 | 0.63 (0.51–0.73) | 0.69 (0.42–0.87) | 0.92 (0.80–0.97) | 0.26 (0.14–0.42) | 0.660 | 0.19 | 0.007 |
Notes: Abbreviated Words: “S” means smear; “C” means culture; “P” means histopathologic examination; “X” means Xpert assay; “SF” means serious fluid; “SFDFP” means serous fluid drainage flocky precipitate.
*“Valid” means the proportion of cases with available sample and results for all analyzed cases; “AUC” means the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. “Kappa” value was used to assess the agreement between the test (or test combination) and the composite reference standard (categorized as TB serositis or non-TB serositis). “p value” referred to the “S + C + X on SF” row, which stands for the routine decision-making tests to “confirm TB serositis”. The “p value” here was used to assess the statistical significance to our routine definitive methods. “Elispot on PBMC” means T-Spot test on blood samples.