title: Comparison of performance in two diagnostic methods for tuberculosis infection.
abstract: Performance of two diagnoses, T-SPOT.TB (T-SPOT) and QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT-G), was compared in Japanese subjects. Forty-seven confirmed tuberculosis patients and eighty-four healthy subjects were recruited. All samples were assessed for both T-SPOT and QFT-G, and the sensitivities and the specificities were compared between two methods. The sensitivity was 100% for T-SPOT, and 87.2% for QFT-G. The specificity was 83.3 and 98.8%, respectively. The overall agreement of two tests was substantially high (Kappa coefficient = 0.671). The sensitivity of T-SPOT appeared to be higher than that of QFT-G, whereas the specificity of T-SPOT was significantly lower than that of QFT-G. The difference in the performance between T-SPOT and QFT-G and biological relevance of each system in diagnosing M. tuberculosis infection should be further explored.
authors.affiliation: The Research Institute of Tuberculosis, Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association, Kiyose, Tokyo, Japan. higuchi@jata.or.jp
authors.forename: Kazue
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.forename: Yoshiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawabe
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mitarai
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshiyama
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mori
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic