scholarly journals Reliability of Visual Assessment for Diagnosis of Neonatal Jaundice Among Neonates of Black Descent: A Cross-Sectional Study From Tanzania.

Author(s):  
Ikunda Dionis ◽  
Omary Chillo ◽  
George M Bwire ◽  
Manase Kilonzi ◽  
Calvin Ulomi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Jaundice is common among neonates and if untreated can lead to kernicterus. Diagnosing of jaundice in neonates using Kramer’s method (visual assessment) is considered user friendly in resource limited areas. However, there are conflicting finding on reliability of the Kramer’s method in diagnosis of neonatal jaundice (NJ) particularly of black descent. Therefore, this study aimed to determine diagnostic accuracy of Kramer’s method in comparison with total serum bilirubin (TSB) test in diagnosis of NJ among neonates of black descent in Tanzania. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between June and July 2020 at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. A total of 315 neonates were recruited consecutively. In each neonates’ jaundice was assessed by using Kramer’s method and TSB test. A 2 X 2 table was created for determination of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), positive and negative likelihood ratios (+LR/-LR) and diagnostic accuracy (effectiveness). Cohen kappa (κ) was used to analyze the agreement between Kramer’s method and TSB. Association between independent variables and presence of jaundice were assessed using chi-square test and the p ˂ 0.05 was considered to be statistical significance. Results: The prevalence of NJ was 49.8% by Kramer’s method and 63.5% by TSB. The Sensitivity, Specificity, PPV, and NPV of the Kramer’s method were 70.5%, 86.1%, 88.8%, and 62.6%, respectively. The +LR and –LR were 5.07 and 0.34 respectively. The diagnostic accuracy of the Kramer’s method was 76.1%. There was a moderate agreement between Kramer’s method and TSB results (κ= 0.524, P˂0.001). No significance relationship between the independent variables and presence of NJ. Conclusion: Kramer’s method was found to be inefficient in detecting NJ among neonates of black descent. However, it can be used as a predictor of NJ and whenever available invasive techniques should be applied.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ikunda Dionis ◽  
Omary Chillo ◽  
George M. Bwire ◽  
Calvin Ulomi ◽  
Manase Kilonzi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Jaundice is common among neonates and if untreated can lead to kernicterus. Diagnosing neonatal jaundice (NJ) using Kramer’s method (visual assessment) is considered user-friendly in resource-limited areas. However, there are conflicting findings on reliability of the Kramer’s method in the diagnosis of NJ, particularly of black descent. Therefore, study aimed to determine the accuracy of Kramer’s method in comparison to the total serum bilirubin (TSB) test in the diagnosis of NJ among neonates of black descent in Tanzania. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted between June and July 2020 at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. A total of 315 neonates were recruited consecutively. In each neonate, jaundice was assessed using Kramer’s method and TSB test. NJ A total of 315 neonates were recruited i. A 2 X 2 table was created for the determination of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), positive and negative likelihood ratios (+LR/−LR), and diagnostic accuracy (effectiveness) of Kramer’s method. Cohen kappa (κ) was used to analyze the agreement between Kramer’s method and TSB. Association between independent variables and presence of jaundice were assessed using the chi-square test and the p < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results The prevalence of NJ was 49.8% by Kramer’s method and 63.5% by TSB. The Sensitivity, Specificity, PPV, and NPV of Kramer’s method were 70.5, 86.1, 89.8, and 62.6%, respectively. The +LR and –LR were 5.07 and 0.34, respectively. The diagnostic accuracy of Kramer’s method was 76.1%. There was a moderate agreement between Kramer’s method and TSB results (κ = 0.524, P<0.001). No significant relationship was observed between the independent variables and the presence of NJ. Conclusion Kramer has a good positive predictive value. However, due to low sensitivity and NPV one cannot say that overall predictive ability is good. Also, clinical assessment by Kramer’s method should not be used for screening of NJ. Further studies are needed to investigate the utility of other non-invasive techniques in detecting NJ among neonates of black descent.


Author(s):  
Ashok Mysore Lakshminarayana ◽  
Shweta Mallikarjun Kumbar ◽  
Manohara Melur Chandregowda ◽  
Kiran Warrier

Background: Gastroesophageal varices due to portal hypertension in patients with liver cirrhosis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Gold standard investigation for varices is esophagogastroduodenoscopy and patients are advised to undergo regular follow up based on the risk stratification. But the invasive nature, risk of procedure-related complication and lack of accessibility and affordability makes it important to identify simpler methods to screen patients. Platelet count/spleen diameter (PSD) ratio has been validated as a marker for oesophageal varices (OV) in multiple studies but with varying results. The present study was conducted to evaluate the accuracy of PSD ratio in OV.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in patients diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. Clinical examination, relevant laboratory investigations, abdominal ultrasound and endoscopy were performed and data were recorded. PSD was calculated. Receiver-operator characteristics curves were plotted to determine cut-off values. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were calculated.Results: Total 100 patients were included in this study, out of which 25% of patients did not have varices on endoscopy. The mean PSD was for patients without varices 1242.82 (253.45) and 883.51 (582.38467) for patients with OV. The area-under-curve was 0.823, 95% CI=0.734-0.912, p value=0.000001. The cut-off value for PSD was calculated from the ROC analysis was 1077. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 76%, 88%, 95% and 55% respectively.Conclusions: PSD ratio is not an efficient parameter for detection of varices in patients with liver cirrhosis. The current evidence does not support its role as a screening test for identification of patients with OV.


Author(s):  
Jackson Chipaila ◽  
◽  
Alex Makupe ◽  
Evans Malyangu ◽  
Daniel Maswahu ◽  
...  

Introduction: Thyroid nodules are one of the common surgical presentations in Africa and are of great concern because of their potential to be malignant. Zambia is not excluded from these common surgical conditions. However, there are no pre-operative cellular or intra-operative tissue diagnoses of the thyroid nodules done before thyroidectomy making it difficult to plan for an optimal and definitive management. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is known to play a pivotal role in the screening and management of thyroid swellings. This study serves to assess the diagnostic accuracy of FNAC on thyroid nodules in patients at two tertiary hospitals in Zambia in order to establish a basis for introducing its use in the management of thyroid nodules at the institutions. Objectives: To evaluate the accuracy of FNAC, as compared to histopathology, in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules at University Teaching Hospital (UTH) and Ndola Central Hospital (NCH) in Zambia. Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study conducted in UTH and NCH surgery department from June 2014 to March 2015. Seventy-three patients, who presented with palpable thyroid nodules and underwent thyroidectomy, were enrolled in the study. The FNAC diagnosis of the patients was compared to the histopathology finding following thyroidectomy. Results: Females made up the majority of the patients (n=67, 91.8%). The ages of the patients ranged from 18 to 78 years. The mean age was 44.3 years and the peak age of incidence was in the fourth decade. All patients were clinically euthyroid at the time of enrolment. The FNAC findings included 23 cases reported as unsatisfactory (31.5%); 29 cases benign (39.7%); 2 cases atypical (2.7%); 6 cases suspicious (8.2%); and 13 cases malignant (17.8%). Histopathology findings were available from all 73 tissue samples of participants, of which 55 (75.3%) and 18 (24.7%) were reported as benign and malignant respectively. Of the 18 malignant cases identified by histology, the most common cancer was follicular carcinoma (n=9, 50%), followed by papillary carcinoma (n=6, 33.3%) and undifferentiated carcinoma (n=3, 16.7%). FNAC, in this study, had sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values, and accuracy of 83.33%, 89.09%, 94.23 and 71.42%, and 87.67% respectively. Conclusion: In this study, FNAC of thyroid nodules had a high sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and accuracy, and can therefore be recommended to be adopted as a pre-operative tool for screening of thyroid nodules.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (8) ◽  
pp. 1849-1851
Author(s):  
Ambreen Ali ◽  
Ashfaq Ahmad Shah Bukhari ◽  
Shameela Majeed ◽  
Saira Gul ◽  
Nomana Khalil ◽  
...  

Aim: To determine the frequency of hypocalcemia with exchange transfusion in neonatal jaundice. Study design: Descriptive cross-sectional study Place and duration of study: Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology, Naseer Teaching Hospital Peshawar from 1stJanuary 2018 to 31st December 2018. Methodology: One hundred and sixty twopatients of jaundiced neonates having total serum bilirubin >20mg/dl, both gender and patients having age up to 14 days were included. Patients fulfilling the selection criteria had undergone exchange transfusion. Hypocalcaemia was evaluated and considered positive if calcium serum level is <8 mg/dl or <2 mmol/L. Results: 50% of neonates were between 1-5 days, 45% of neonates were between 5-10 days, and 3% of neonates were in age 10-14 days. One hundred and ten (68%) of neonates were males and 52 (32%) of neonates were females. 30% neonates had hypocalcemia while 70% were without hypocalcemia. Conclusion: The incidence of hypocalcemia was found to be 30% with exchange transfusion in neonatal jaundice. Keywords: Hypocalcemia, Exchange transfusion, Neonatal jaundice


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adi Syazni Muhammed ◽  
Randeep Singh ◽  
Shahrun Niza Abdullah Suhaimi ◽  
Nani Harlina Muhammad Latar

INTRODUCTION: This study aims to evaluate the diagnostic reliability of the American College of Radiology Thyroid Imaging Report and Data System (ACR-TIRADS) and Total Malignancy Score (TMS) scoring system, in differentiating benign and malignant thyroid nodules. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study involving patients with thyroid nodules treated at Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz from October 2017 until October 2019. Ultrasound findings were scored according to the ACR[1]TIRADS and TMS scoring system. They were then correlated with the FNAC or histopathology report. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and diagnostic accuracy of both scoring system were calculated for analysis. RESULTS: A total of 150 patients with 223 thyroid nodules were included. 17% or 38 nodules were found to be malignant. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of ACR-TIRADS and TMS were 97.37% vs. 84.21 % , 52.97% vs. 62.70%, 29.84% vs. 31.68%, 98.99% vs. 95.08% and 61% vs. 66% respectively. According to the ACR-TIRADS, only hypoechoic nodules was a strong predictor of malignancy. Comparatively, in the TMS, strong predictors of malignancy include single nodule, hypoechogenicity, irregular margin, and nodules with peri and intranodular vascularity. CONCLUSION: Both ACR-TIRADS and TMS score had good diagnostic accuracy in predicting malignant thyroid nodule. TMS is comparable and not inferior to ACR[1]TIRADS however, the latter is more practical for use as growth and Doppler characteristic are not included in the assessment.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karla Gorozave-Car ◽  
Albino Barraza-Villarreal ◽  
Consuelo Escamilla-Núñez ◽  
Leticia Hernandez-Cadena ◽  
Luz Helena Sanín-Aguirre ◽  
...  

Background. In Mexico, several studies have been conducted under the ISAAC methodology; nevertheless, no validation studies of the ISAAC questionnaire based on objective clinical testing in our country have been published. Aims of the Study. To validate the ISAAC questionnaire, used in a study of prevalence of allergic diseases, based on medical, respiratory, and allergic evaluations of schoolchildren being 11 to 16 years old in Mexicali, Mexico. Material and Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional study to validate the ISAAC questionnaire through the generation of an index (considered as gold standard) using pre- and postbronchodilator spirometry test, exhaled nitric oxide measurements, and atopic evaluations. 114 schoolchildren were included (23 asthmatics with respiratory symptoms and 91 nonasthmatics without respiratory symptoms) and we evaluated the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive value of the questionnaire using discriminant analysis. Results. We observed sensitivity of 35.2% and specificity of 93.3% and the positive and negative predictive values were 82.6% and 61.5%, respectively. Conclusions. Our findings indicate that the ISAAC Mexican version questionnaire was less sensitive and more specific when compared to the gold standard; however, it is adequate and able to discriminate children with and without asthma and a useful tool to use in epidemiological studies.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roderick P Venekamp ◽  
Irene K Veldhuijzen ◽  
Karel GM Moons ◽  
Wouter van den Bijllaardt ◽  
Suzan D Pas ◽  
...  

Objective To assess the diagnostic accuracy of three rapid antigen tests (Ag-RDTs) for detecting SARS-CoV-2 infection in the general population. Design Cross-sectional study with follow-up using pseudonymised record linkage. Setting Three Dutch public health service COVID-19 test sites. Participants Consecutively included individuals aged 16 years and older presenting for SARS-CoV-2 testing. Main outcome measures Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of BD-Veritortm System (Becton Dickinson), PanBio (Abbott), and SD-Biosensor (Roche Diagnostics), applying routinely used sampling methods (combined oropharyngeal and nasal [OP-N] or nasopharyngeal [NP] swab), with molecular testing as reference standard. For SDBiosensor, the diagnostic accuracy with OP-N sampling was also assessed. A viral load cutoff (≥5.2 log10 SARS-CoV-2 E-gene copies/mL) served as a proxy of infectiousness. Results SARS-CoV-2 prevalence and overall sensitivities with 95% confidence intervals were 188/1441 (13.0%) and 129/188 (68.6% [61.5%-75.2%]) for BD-Veritor, 173/2056 (8.4%) and 119/173 (68.8% [61.3%-75.6%]) for PanBio, and 215/1769 (12.2%) and 160/215 (74.4% [68.0%-80.1%]) for SD-Biosensor with routine sampling, and 164/1689 (9.7%) and 123/164 (75.0% [67.7%-81.4%]) for SD-Biosensor with OP-N sampling. In those symptomatic or asymptomatic at sampling, sensitivities were 72.2%-83.4% and 54.0%-55.9%, respectively. With a viral load cut-off, sensitivities were 125/146 (85.6% [78.9%-90.9%]) for BD-Veritor, 108/121 (89.3% [82.3%-94.2%]) for PanBio, 160/182 (87.9% [82.3%-92.3%]) for SD-Biosensor with routine sampling, and 118/141 (83.7% [76.5%-89.4%]) with OP-N sampling. Specificities were >99%, and positive and negative predictive values >95%, for all tests in most analyses. 61.3% of false negative Ag-RDT participants returned for testing within 14 days (median of 3 days, interquartile range 3) of whom 90.3% tested positive. Conclusions The overall sensitivities of the three Ag-RDTs were 68.6%-75.0%, increasing to at least 85.6% after the viral load cut-off was applied. For SD-Biosensor, the diagnostic accuracy with OP-N and NP sampling was comparable. Over 55% of false negative Ag-RDT participants tested positive during follow-up.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (39) ◽  
pp. 3429-3434
Author(s):  
Sowmya D. ◽  
Anusha S ◽  
Prasanna Pidaparti L.V.S.S.N. ◽  
Jaya Chandra T. ◽  
Mythri Priyadarshini V.

BACKGROUND Breast cancer is the second most common malignancy and most common among women next to lung cancer. A small lump in the breast leads to great physical, emotional, and psychological trauma to the victim and as well as family. In addition to clinical examination, imaging modalities like mammography (MG), ultrasonography (USG), cytological diagnosis by fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and tissue diagnosis were used for the diagnosis. These diagnostic techniques have certain pitfalls in addition to their advantages. A study was conducted to evaluate the breast lesions according to breast imaging reporting and data system using MG and USG, correlation with FNAC. METHODS It was a cross-sectional study, conducted in the Department of Radio-diagnosis, GSL Medical College, Rajahmundry from January 2018 to June 2019, over a period of 18 months. An informed consent was taken from all the participants. The individual with palpable breast lesions detected in clinical examination were included. Physiological swelling, ulcerated and fungal breast growths were not considered. After the detailed clinical history, physical examination, MG and USG were performed, proceeded for FNAC, smears were stained with Leishman and Papanicolaou stain. Statistical analysis was performed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 20.0). Descriptive data was presented in the form of mean, standard deviation and percentages. Chi-square test was done to assess the association among various categorical data, P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS Total 142 participants were included, maximum number belong to 41 to 50 years, 0.7 % were male. Right side lesion was the predominant. With FNAC, the sensitivity, specificity and the diagnostic accuracy were 86.5 %, 97.8 % and 93.7 %, respectively for benign breast lesions (BBL) diagnosis and 96.7 %, 84.6 %, 92.25 % respectively for malignant breast lesions (MBL) diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS The sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy was observed to be higher in diagnosis of both BBL and MBL with the combined modalities. KEYWORDS Breast Lesions, Benign, Malignant


Diagnostics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1011
Author(s):  
Sofia Nevander ◽  
Eva Landberg ◽  
Marie Blomberg ◽  
Bertil Ekman ◽  
Caroline Lilliecreutz

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a common complication with negative impacts on mother and child. The primary aim of this study was to examine whether plasma glucose cutoffs for GDM diagnosis based on venous sampling can be replaced by cutoffs based on capillary sampling. A prospective cross-sectional study was performed at an antenatal care clinic including 175 pregnant women undergoing an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Duplicate samples were collected by capillary and venous puncture while fasting and 1 h and 2 h after an OGTT. Both samples were analyzed on Accu-Chek Inform II. The cutoffs for a GDM diagnosis using capillary samples were corrected from 5.1 to 5.3 mmol/L for the fasting sample, from 10.0 to 11.1 mmol/L for the 1 h sample, and from 8.5 to 9.4 mmol/L for the 2-h sample using half of the dataset. Applying these cutoffs to the remaining dataset resulted in a sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 85.0%, 95.0%, and 90.3%, respectively, with a positive predictive value (PPV) of 83%, an negative predictive value (NPV) of 96%, and a positive negative likelihood ratio (LHR) of 16.4 using capillary sampling for the GDM diagnosis at fasting and 2-h after. Corrected cutoffs and capillary samples can be used for the diagnosis of GDM with maintained diagnostic accuracy using Accu-Chek Inform II.


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