Utility of investigation for suspected microbial keratitis: a diagnostic accuracy study.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

The true disease status of a population with suspected microbial keratitis (MK) cannot be verified. There is not an accurate (gold) reference standard to confirm infection and inter-test comparisons of sensitivity and specificity therefore lead to bias with questionable estimates of test utility. We present an alternative method to report results.

Methods

We used a decision to treat as the definition for MK. We retrospectively compared the results of corneal culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as these are objective tests available for the three principal groups of pathogens. We then estimated the potential contribution of positive results, either alone or in combination, to support the working diagnosis.

Results

We included 2021 (77.4%) eyes with susp

SUBMITTER: Tuft S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9905491 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature