Performance of the Kato-Katz method and real time polymerase chain reaction for the diagnosis of soil-transmitted helminthiasis in the framework of a randomised controlled trial: treatment efficacy and day-to-day variation

Table 5 Mutual sensitivities calculated for combined Kato-Katz and combined qPCR for T. trichiura, A. lumbricoides and hookworm at baseline and 14–21 days follow-up

		Sensitivity (%) (95% CI)		Sensitivity (%) (95% CI)	P-value*		Pooled analysis (%) (95% CI)
	n	Baseline	n	Follow-up		n	Baseline + Follow-up
T. trichiura
Kato-Katz vs PCR (= Ref)	386	78.2 (73.8–82.2)	264	81.4 (76.2–85.9)	0.35	650	79.7 (76.4–82.6)
PCR vs Kato-Katz (= Ref)	320	94.4 (91.3–96.6)	232	92.7 (88.5–95.7)	0.42	552	93.7 (91.3–95.4)
A. lumbricoides
Kato-Katz vs PCR (=Ref)	192	38.5 (31.6–45.8)	58	3.4 (0.4–11.9)	< 0.001	250	30.4 (25.0–36.4)
PCR vs Kato-Katz (=Ref)	87	85.1 (75.8–91.8)	3	66.7 (9.4–99.2)	0.41	90	84.4 (75.4–90.6)
Hookworm
Kato-Katz vs PCR (=Ref)	116	39.7 (30.7–49.2)	54	27.8 (16.5–41.6)	0.13	170	35.9 (29.0–43.4)
PCR vs Kato-Katz (=Ref)	54	85.2 (72.9–93.4)	15	100 (78.2–100)	0.19	69	88.4 (78.5–94.1)

*P-values were calculated for the difference in the respective sensitivity measure between the baseline and follow-up examination time point using logistic regression models with robust standard errors adjusting for longitudinal correlations of test results within individuals
Note: The number of observations (n) is determined by samples found positive by the method considered as reference. The reference method was assumed to be the gold standard, i.e. with a 100% sensitivity and specificity, when assessing sensitivities of the other method
Abbreviations: Ref, reference; T. trichiura, Trichuris trichiura; A. lumbricoides, Ascaris lumbricoides

ISSN: 1756-3305