The effect of measurement error on the determination of Helicobacter pylori prevalence.
We assessed the effect of serum-based antibody tests on the epidemiology of Helicobacter pylori infection. We took crude population prevalences of H. Pylori infection from existing publications in which antibody-based tests were used to determine prevalence. We then calculated 95% confidence intervals that included terms for study size, sensitivity, specificity, and, where possible, the sample size used to determine the validity of the antibody test. Specificity had a greater effect than sensitivity on the overestimation of most population-based estimates of H. pylori prevalence. The attributes of some antibody-based tests imply that no matter how large the study size, an accurate estimate of prevalence could not have been obtained.
Cockburn
M
M
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Cox
B
B
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003951:Diagnostic Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012698:Serologic Tests
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial