Tagbor H., Bruce J., Browne E., Greenwood B., Chandramohan D.
Department of Community Health, School of Medicinal Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Private Mail Bag, Kumasi, Ghana; Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
Tagbor, H., Department of Community Health, School of Medicinal Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Private Mail Bag, Kumasi, Ghana; Bruce, J., Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Browne, E., Department of Community Health, School of Medicinal Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Private Mail Bag, Kumasi, Ghana; Greenwood, B., Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Chandramohan, D., Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
The accuracy of OptiMAL® dipsticks was compared with that of microscopy in the diagnosis of malaria infection in pregnancy. During the course of a clinical trial of anti-malarial drugs in pregnancy, we screened 4500 pregnant women of all parities who accessed antenatal clinic services at St. Theresa's Hospital's in Nkoranza, Ghana, between March 2003 and December 2004 with OptiMAL® dipsticks and confirmed the diagnosis of malaria with microscopy. We determined the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and the area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the OptiMAL® antigen test compared to microscopy for the diagnosis of malaria infection in pregnancy. OptiMAL® dipsticks had a sensitivity of 96.6%, specificity of 85.4%, a positive predictive value of 92.7%, a negative predictive value of 92.6%, and an area under the ROC curve of 0.91 (95% CI of 0.90-0.92). The diagnostic accuracy of the OptiMAL® dipstick is high and the test may have practical use in the diagnosis of malaria infection in pregnancy in malaria endemic countries. © 2008 Tagbor et al, publisher and licensee Dove Medical Press Ltd.
article; clinical trial; controlled clinical trial; controlled study; diagnostic accuracy; diagnostic kit; diagnostic value; endemic disease; female; Ghana; human; immunoassay; intermethod comparison; major clinical study; malaria; microscopy; parasite identification; Plasmodium falciparum; Plasmodium ovale; Plasmodium vivax; prediction; pregnancy; receiver operating characteristic; sensitivity and specificity
