Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
6132628 | Journal of Infection and Public Health | 2013 | 7 Pages |
Abstract
Dialysis patients are more likely than the general population to develop active tuberculosis (TB). In these patients, the availability of a highly sensitive and specific test to diagnose latent TB will ensure earlier treatment and decreased progression to active disease. In the current study, the Quanti-FERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-G) test was compared with the tuberculin skin test (TST) for the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) among 200 hemodialysis patients and 15 confirmed TB disease cases in a tertiary care center in Saudi Arabia. Among the LTBI cases, 26 (13%) were TST positive, and 65 (32.5%) were positive by the QTF-G test, with an overall agreement between the 2 tests of 75.5% (k = 0.34) being observed. Among the confirmed tuberculosis disease cases, none were positive by TST, and 10 (66.7%) were positive by the QTF-G test, resulting in an overall agreement of 33.3% (k = 0). A comparison between the TST and the QTF-G test was performed based on the sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) obtained for the tests. The QTF-G test was more sensitive and less specific than the TST in predicting the confirmed TB disease cases. When we tested the correspondence of the AUC values between the 2 diagnostic modalities, the obtained p-value was 0.0003. In conclusion, the AUCs of the examined diagnostic modalities are significantly different in predicting LTBI and tuberculosis.
Keywords
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Infectious Diseases
Authors
Hamdan Al Jahdali, Anwar E. Ahmed, Hanan H. Balkhy, Salim Baharoon, Fayez F. Al Hejaili, Ali Hajeer, Ziad Memish, Salih Binsalih, Abdullah A. Al Sayyari,