Table 3 Comparative performance of Rapid Diagnostic Test kits (Parascreen, Falcivax, Malascan, First Response and ParaHIT Total) with traditional light microscopy and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for diagnosis of P.falciparum

Light Microscopy as Gold Standard (Reference)

Sensitivity

94.0

94.0

94.0

94.7

84.2

(95% CI)

(88.52-97.4)

(88.5-97.4)

(88.5-97.4)

(89.5-97.7)

(76.9-90.0)

Specificity

72.0

72.8

69.5

69.9

80.8

(95% CI)

(65.8-77.6)

(66.7-78.3)

(63.2-75.2)

(63.6-75.6)

(75.2-85.6)

Positive Likelihood Ratio

3.4

3.46

3.08

3.14

4.38

(95% CI)

(2.7-4.1)

(2.80-4.27)

(2.53-3.74)

(2.58-3.83)

(3.34-5.73)

Negative Likelihood Ratio

0.08

0.08

0.09

0.08

0.20

(95% CI)

(0.04-0.16)

(0.04-0.16)

(0.04-0.17)

(0.04-0.16)

(0.13-0.29)

Positive Predictive Value

65.1

65.8

63.1

63.6

70.9

(95% CI)

(57.9-71.8)

(58.6-72.5)

(56.0-69.9)

(56.5-70.3)

(63.1-77.8)

Negative Predictive Value

95.6

95.6

95.4

96.0

90.2

(95% CI)

(91.4-98.1)

(91.5-98.1)

(91.1-98.0)

(91.9-98.4)

(85.4-93.8)

Percentage Agreement (Accuracy)

79.8

80.4

78.2

78.8

82.0

Kappa

0.60

0.61

0.57

0.58

0.62

PCR as Gold Standard (Reference)

Sensitivity

83.6

84.8

84.8

83.6

73.7

(95% CI)

(77.2-88.8)

(78.5-89.8)

(78.5-89.8)

(77.2-88.8)

(66.4-80.1)

Specificity

78.2

80.3

76.2

75.6

86.5

(95% CI)

(71.7-83.8)

(74.0-85.7)

(69.5-82.0)

(69.0-81.5)

(80.9-91.0)

Positive Likelihood Ratio

3.84

4.31

3.56

3.43

5.47

(95% CI)

(2.92-5.06)

(3.22-5.77)

(2.74-4.61)

(2.65-4.44)

(3.78-7.91)

Negative Likelihood Ratio

0.21

0.19

0.20

0.22

0.30

(95% CI)

(0.15-0.30)

(0.13-0.27)

(0.14-0.29)

(0.15-0.31)

(0.24-0.39)

Positive Predictive Value

77.3

79.2

75.9

75.3

82.9

(95% CI)

(70.62-83.1)

(72.6-84.9)

(69.2-89.8)

(68.5-81.2)

(76.0-88.5)

Negative Predictive Value

84.4

85.6

85.0

83.9

78.8

(95% CI)

(78.2-89.3)

(79.7-90.4)

(78.8-89.9)

(77.6-89.0)

(72.6-84.1)

Percentage Agreement (Accuracy)

80.8

82.4

80.2

79.4

80.5

Kappa

0.62

0.65

0.61

0.59

0.61