Table 3.
Comparison of assay sensitivity in paired plasma and whole blood.
| Analyte | PCR-confirmed species | n of paired samples | Plasma | Whole blood | P-value from McNemar’s paired test comparing plasma vs whole blood sensitivity | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Threshold (pg/mL) | Sensitivity (95%CI) | Threshold (pg/mL) | Sensitivity (95%CI) | Uncorrected | Yates correction | |||
| HRP2 | Pf | 63 | 40.84 | 92.1 (82.4–97.4) | 4.31 | 100 (94.3–100) | 0.025 | 0.044 |
| Pf-LDH | Pf | 63 | 17.81 | 88.9 (78.4–95.4) | 12.64 | 100 (94.3–100) | 0.008 | 0.014 |
| Pf-LDH | Pm | 24 | 17.81 | 95.8 (78.9–99.9) | 12.64 | 100 (85.8–100) | 0.32 | 0.62 |
| Pv-LDH | Pv | 65 | 9.14 | 76.9 (64.8–86.5) | 75.66 | 93.9 (85.0–98.3) | 0.0009 | 0.002 |
| Pv-LDH | Pk | 66 | 9.14 | 97.0 (89.5–99.6) | 75.66 | 93.9 (85.2–98.3) | 0.41 | 0.54 |
| Pan-LDH | All malaria | 220 | 27.56 | 87.3 (82.1–91.4) | 84.42 | 95.5 (91.8–97.8) | 0.0001 | 0.0002 |
| CRP | All malaria | 220 | 26,212a | 89.6 (84.7–93.3) | 13,768.a | 80.0 (74.1–85.1) | 0.0006 | 0.0008 |
PCR polymerase chain reaction, CI confidence interval, Pf Plasmodium falciparum, Pv Plasmodium vivax, Pk Plasmodium knowlesi, Pm Plasmodium malariae, Po Plasmodium ovale, HRP2 Histidine-rich protein-2, LDH lactate dehydrogenase, CRP C-reactive protein.
aUnits of ng/mL.