title: Assessment of the quality of tests for the detection of antibodies to Aujeszky's disease virus glycoprotein gE in a target population by the use of receiver operating characteristic curves.
abstract: The performance of tests for the detection of antibodies to Aujeszky's disease virus glycoprotein E (gE) in a target population was evaluated by constructing and analysing receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. These curves assess the discriminating ability of a test over the entire range of test signals. The advantages of applying the analysis to a sample of the target population (all commercial pigs in the Netherlands), as compared to using a panel of test sera, are that the estimates of sensitivity and specificity, the comparisons between tests and the choices of the cut-off values are all relevant for the target population. The results of a gE-ELISA in colostrum (test A) and in a single droplet of whole blood (test B) were compared with the results obtained with the same ELISA in serum (gold standard). The area under the ROC curve, which is a quantitative measure of test performance, was significantly (P < 0.01) smaller with test A than test B or the gold standard, indicating that test B performed better than test A. No significant difference was observed between test B and the gold standard.
authors.affiliation: Animal Health Service, Boxtel, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Stegeman
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: van der Heijden
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Elbers
authors.forename: T G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Kimman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D003126:Colostrum / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D011557:Pseudorabies / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013552:Swine; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; C089580:glycoprotein E, Suid herpesvirus 1