title: Intra- and interlaboratory reproducibility of an ELISA serological test for Lyme disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Lyme disease has been increasingly diagnosed throughout North America since the late 1970s. The clinical diagnosis and epidemiological monitoring of Lyme disease are aided by serological testing for the etiological agent, Borrelia burgdorferi. Numerous authorities have questioned the reproducibility of these serological tests. This study assessed the intra- and interlaboratory reproducibility of an elisa used to aid in the diagnosis of Lyme disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-seven sera from cases and noncases were tested by three laboratories. Two of the laboratories repeated the tests once. These testings were part of the 1991 quality control assessment of provincial laboratories carried out by the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control (lcdc), Ottawa.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean weighted kappa statistics were 0.87 for interlaboratory comparisons and 0.89 for intralaboratory comparisons.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, the elisa assessed in this study demonstrated good to excellent intra- and interlaboratory reproducibility in the lcdc 1991 quality control assessment when the data were assessed in the categorical scale using the weighted kappa statistic. Generalization of these findings to clinical laboratory settings must be done with caution.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Department of Community Health, and Department of Preventative Medicine and Biostatistics, University of Toronto, Toronto, and Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Ottawa, Ontario.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Tammemagi
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Leblanc
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Artsob