Summary of LE dipstick studies (n=9)
| First author, year, reference | Country | Study population | Symptomatic (%) | Sex | Sample size (n) | POC test brand name | Gold standard | Gonorrhoea prevalence (%) | Specimen type | Positive cut-off | Sensitivity % (95% CI) | Specificity % (95% CI) | PPV % (95% CI) | NPV % (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruce, 201011 | Papua New Guinea | Sex workers | ∼50* | F | 129 | LE urine dipstick | NAAT Applied Biosystems GeneAmp PCR system 9700 (GeneWorks, Adelaide, Australia) | 37.2 | Urine | 1+ | 23 (12 to 37) | 70 (59 to 80)† | 31‡ | ‡ |
| Wood, 200718 | USA | Army recruits | 0 | M | 1438 | ChemStrip | NAAT Ligase chain reaction LCx probe system, (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Par, Illinois, USA) | 0.3 | Urine | Trace | 60 (15 to 95)† | 96 (95 to 97)† | 5† (2 to 14)† | 99.9 (99 to 100)† |
| Behets, 200219 | Madagascar | STI clinic attendees | 100 | F | 1003 | ChemStrip | NAAT Ligase chain reaction LCx probe system, (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Par, Illinois, USA) | 13.0 | Urine | Trace – 1+ | 81 (73 to 87)† – 61 (53 to 69)† | 30 (22 to 38)† – 53 (50 to 56)† | Trace: 16 ‡ – 1+: 15 ‡ | Trace: 90.3 ‡ – 1+: 91.7 ‡ |
| Bowden, 199820 | Australia | STI clinic attendees | 81.4 | M | 103 | Multistix SG | NAAT Cobas Amplicor, (Roche Diagnostic Systems Inc, Branchburg, New Jersey, USA) | 4.7 | Urine | Trace – 1+ | 78 (52 to 96)† – 73 (51 to 95)† | 99 (98 to 100) – 99 (98 to 100)† | ‡ – ‡ | ‡ – ‡ |
| Fraser, 199521 | UK | GUM attendees | 28.0 | M | 100 | Multistix | Culture Vancomycin-colistin-amphotericin-trimethoprim | 5.0 | Urine | Trace | 80 (28 to 99)† | 94 (87 to 98)† | 40 (12 to 74)† | 99 (94 to 100)† |
| Patrick, 199422 | Canada | STI clinic attendees and street outreach | 50.4† | M | 1463 | ChemStrip LN | Culture Thayer–Martin | 1.8 | Urine | 1+ | 78 (28 to 99)† | 65 (62 to 67)† | ‡ | ‡ |
| McNagny, 199223 | USA | Emergency department patients | 0 | M | 1095 | Multistik 10SG | Culture Martin–Lewis | 2.5 | Urine | 1+ | 71 (18 to 25 years) (29 to 96)† – 60(26 to 39 yrs) (56 to 79)† | 93 (18 to 25 years) (89 to 97)† – 90(26 to 39 yrs) (88 to 92)† | 26 (18 to 25 years) ‡ – 13 (26 to 39 years) ‡ | 99 (18 to 25 years) ‡ – 96 (26 to 36 years) ‡ |
| Knud-Hansen, 199124 | USA | STI clinic attendees | Not reported | F | 478 | ChemStrip LN | Culture Thayer–Martin | 15.7 | Endo-cervical | 1+ | 68 (56 to 79) | 44 (39 to 49) | 19† (13 to 23)† | 56† (51 to 60)† |
| Chacko, 199625 | USA | Inner city shelter | 23 | F | 168 (Vaginal) – 136 (Cervical) | ChemStrip LN | NAAT DNA probe (Gen-Probe Inc, San Diego, California, USA) | 8 | Vagainal Cervical | Trace | 86 (56 to 97) – 85 (54 to 97) | 32 (25 to 41) – 33 (25 to 42) | 10 (6 to 18) – 12 (6 to 20) | 96 (86 to 99) – 85 (71 to 52) |
*Anogenital symptoms were present in over 50% of participants (exact number not specified).
†Calculated by author.
‡Insufficient information to calculate.
F, female; GUM, genitourinary medicine; LE, leucocyte esterase; M, male; NAAT, nucleic acid amplification test; NPV, negative predictive value; POC, point-of-care; PPV, positive predictive value; STI, sexually transmitted infection.