Table 4.
Sensitivity, PPV and NPV values for the qPCR and BI/H (skin lesions).
| BI/H |
qPCR |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patients | Sensitivity (%) | PPV (%) | NPV (%) | Sensitivity (%) | PPV (%) | NPV (%) |
| Total (n = 126) | 80.1 | 80.1 | 44.4 | 84.9 | 84.9 | 61.2 |
| TT (n = 10) * | 37.5 | 37.5 | 61.5 | 52.5 | 52.5 | 86.3 |
| BT (n = 10) * | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| BB (n = 10) * | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| BL (n = 10) * | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| LL (n = 10) * | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| RR (n = 10) * | 75 | 75 | 80 | 95 | 95 | 98.3 |
| ENH (n = 10) * | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
qPCR, real time PCR; BI/H, bacilloscopy of histological sections; PPV, positive predictive value; NPV, negative predictive value.
*
To avoid overrepresentation of the groups with small sample size, the sensitivity, PPV and NPV values for the individual groups (leprosy clinical forms and reactional forms) were calculated after a random selection of the samples to comprise groups with the equal n = 10.