Diagnostic value of C reactive protein in infections of the lower resp
http://www.100md.com
《英国医生杂志》
1 Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, PO Box 9600, 2300 RC, Leiden, Netherlands
Correspondence to: V van der Meer V.van_der_Meer@lumc.nl
Objectives To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of C reactive protein in detecting radiologically proved pneumonia and to evaluate how well it can discriminate between bacterial and viral infections of the lower respiratory tract.
Data sources Medline and Embase (January 1966 to April 2004), with reference checking.
Study selection We included articles comparing C reactive protein with a chest radiograph or with microbiological work-up as a reference test. Two authors independently assessed methodological items.
Results None of the studies met all validity criteria. Six studies used an infiltrate on chest radiograph as reference test. Sensitivities ranged from 10% to 98%, specificities from 44% to 99%. For adults, the relation of C reactive protein with an infiltrate (in a subgroup analysis of five studies) showed an area under the curve of 0.80 (95% confidence interval 0.75 to 0.85). In 12 studies, the relation of C reactive protein with a bacterial aetiology of infection of the lower respiratory tract was studied. Sensitivities ranged from 8% to 99%, specificities from 27% to 95%. These data were epidemiologically and statistically heterogeneous, so overall outcomes could not be calculated.
Conclusion Testing for C reactive protein is neither sufficiently sensitive to rule out nor sufficiently specific to rule in an infiltrate on chest radiograph and bacterial aetiology of lower respiratory tract infection. The methodological quality of the diagnostic studies is generally poor. The evidence not consistently and sufficiently supports a wide introduction of C reactive protein as a rapid test to guide antibiotics prescription.
Infections of the lower respiratory tract are common in the community and comprise both acute bronchitis and pneumonia.1 2 Differentiating between these two diagnoses by history and physical examination is challenging. However, several studies show that making a diagnosis of pneumonia, defined as a new infiltrate on a chest radiograph, on the basis of clinical findings is difficult.3 4
Differentiation between pneumonia and acute bronchitis is important because of the therapeutic consequences. Bacterial pneumonia should be treated with antibiotics, whereas acute bronchitis is usually self limiting.5 Microbiological aetiology varies from 15-25% viral infection in radiologically proved pneumonia, to 15-40% viral infection in infection of the lower respiratory tract.1 6-8
Although bacterial pneumonia occurs much less often than other infections of the lower respiratory tract, in studies more than 70% of acute infections of the lower respiratory tract are treated with antibiotics.9 10 These data call for additional information, in order to detect bacterial pneumonia and to differentiate between this diagnosis and other respiratory tract infections.
C reactive protein is often proposed as the solution of this clinical dilemma.11 This is a protein of the acute phase, synthesised by hepatocytes. Its production is stimulated mainly by interleukin 6, interleukin 1 , and tumour necrosis factor in response to infection or tissue inflammation.12 Since its identification in 1930, C reactive protein has been studied as a screening device for inflammation, a marker for disease activity, and as a diagnostic adjunct.13 However, even though values of C reactive protein may reflect the severity of inflammation or tissue injury, its role in differentiating bacterial from viral infections is not proved.14 15 With the availability of rapid or bedside tests, particularly in general practice, determining its diagnostic value is of increasing importance.16 17 We assessed the value of C reactive protein in the detection of radiologically proved pneumonia. In addition, we evaluated whether C reactive protein can differentiate bacterial from viral infections of the lower respiratory tract.
Methods
We performed an electronic search according to the most recent recommendations.18 19 20 We searched the databases Medline (January 1966 to April 2004) and Embase (January 1980 to April 2004). This strategy included the medical subject headings and text words "C-reactive protein", "pneumonia", "acute bronchitis", and "lower respiratory tract infection", and the text words "C reactive protein" and "lower respiratory infection". We included only articles in English.21 We applied methodological filters for Medline and Embase.20 22 We supplemented the search by reference checking. The complete search strategy is available from the first author (VvdM).
Selection of studies
On the basis of title and , the first author (VvdM) selected full text articles. We aimed to include studies that compared C reactive protein with a chest radiograph (tackling our first research question), or microbiological work-up (discriminative value for bacterial and viral aetiology). We excluded articles concerning immunocompromised patients, patients treated in intensive care units, or patients with hospital acquired pneumonia. Data that were published twice or more often were selected only once.
Quality assessment
We used the guidelines of the Cochrane methods group on systematic reviews of screening and diagnostic tests to assess the quality of the studies.19 Table A on bmj.com shows how we used these guidelines. Lijmer et al defined four methodological criteria that overestimate the accuracy of a diagnostic test if these standards are not applied.23 We used these Lijmer criteria to test robustness in the sensitivity analysis.24
Fig 1 Flow of studies through the stages of the review
Two authors (VvdM and AKN) independently assessed study quality. Disagreements were solved after discussion of the study details.
Data extraction
We constructed cross tables for calculating sensitivity and specificity for different cut-off points and extracted cut-off points for C reactive protein values. We aimed to extract three cross tables for three different values per study. If this was not possible on the basis of the reported data, we contacted the authors and asked them to provide the required additional data. All studies with quantitative information were eligible for statistical analysis.
Statistical analysis
We used the statistic as a measure of agreement on quality assessment.25 For all studies, we extracted sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative likelihood ratios for different cut-off points. We applied a statistical model for summarising performances of diagnostic tests that was based on that of Midgette et al.18 26 We calculated Spearman's correlation of true positive rates and true negative rates. We calculated areas under the curve for each study to follow inverse correlation. We used a DerSimonian-Laird 2 test to test heterogeneity of these areas under the curve.27 28 We drew a summary receiver operating characteristic curve if data were homogeneous. We investigated the possibility of subgroup analysis and reported outcomes. We based a priori defined subgroups on age, setting, and sex.
We performed a sensitivity analysis by pooling separately the studies that met all four Lijmer criteria and those that did not.
Results
Figure 1 summarises the search strategy and selection of the identified studies. Of the 165 citations in Medline and 340 citations in Embase, we retrieved 22 full text copies on the basis of title and . Reference checking retrieved one additional study. We excluded five studies as they did not meet the inclusion criteria.29 30 31 32 33 One study was conducted using both reference standards—radiology and microbiological aetiology.34 One study was published in two different articles,35 36 which meant that 17 studies were published in 18 articles.
Quality assessment
Table 1 shows the results of the quality assessment according to the validity criteria in table A (see bmj.com). Initial agreement between the two quality assessors was 82.5% ( = 0.68).
Table 1 Quality assessment of the 17 studies
Study characteristics
Table 2 lists the characteristics of the 17 studies included in the quality assessment. Regarding our first research question, all studies but one38 dealt with adults. Three studies were done in primary care,37 39 40 two in secondary care,17 38 and one in a mixed population in primary and secondary care.34
Table 2 Characteristics of 17 retrieved studies testing for C reactive protein in infections of the lower respiratory tract, with reference test infiltrate on chest radiograph (first research question) or aetiological microbiological diagnosis (second research question)
Of the studies dealing with our second research question, most deal with children, although five of them assessed adults.34 43 44 47 49 Two studies were conducted in a mixed primary and secondary care population34 45; all others included secondary care populations.
Test performance
The results of the test performance of C reactive protein with regard to the detection of an infiltrate on a chest radiograph or to the detection of a bacterial aetiology of lower respiratory tract infection are shown in table B on bmj.com and figure 2.
Fig 2 Sensitivity-specificity plot (with 95% confidence intervals) of C reactive protein in relation to detection of an infiltrate (top) or bacterial aetiology (bottom). Measurements of C reactive protein are presented in ascending order
Detection of an infiltrate
With respect to our first research question, we derived 17 data points out of six studies (n = 1178; the number is determined by the number of patients contributing to a data point). Sensitivities ranged from 10% to 98%, specificities from 44% to 99%. Sensitivity and specificity were inversely related: Spearman's correlation coefficient was -0.33, P < 0.01 (2 test). Subgroup analysis in adults (five studies providing 14 data points) resulted in a Spearman's of -0.82, P = 0.40 (2 test).17 34 37 39 40 Figure 3 shows the summary receiver operating characteristic curve of this homogeneous subgroup. The area under the curve is 0.80 (95% confidence interval 0.75 to 0.85). Subgroups based on setting or sex could not be analysed, since they were too small (setting) or not available (lack of information on sex).
Fig 3 Summary receiver operating characteristic curve of five studies dealing with the radiological detection of an infiltrate in adults
Sensitivity analysis of the areas under the curves of the studies that fulfilled all Lijmer criteria (area under the curve 0.84, 95% confidence interval 0.78 to 0.90)17 37 40 and those that did not34 39 (0.74, 0.65 to 0.83) showed robustness of the data.
Bacterial aetiology
Of the 12 studies dealing with our second research question, we obtained sufficient quantitative data to calculate sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios for eight studies (n = 1096). Four authors were not able to provide additional data, because these data were not available any more.43 44 47 49 One did not respond.50
Sensitivities ranged from 8% to 99%, specificities from 27% to 95%. Spearman's for these eight studies was -0.49, P < 0.01 (2 test). Subgroup analysis in children (six studies providing 16 data points) resulted in a Spearman's of -0.65, P < 0.01 (2 test).36 41 42 45 46 48 A summary receiver operating characteristic curve for children could not be drawn because of statistical heterogeneity. We could not perform subgroup analysis based on setting or sex because none of the studies was conducted in primary care and data on sex were not available.
None of the studies fulfilled all four of the Lijmer criteria, so it was not possible to compare studies of different methodological quality.
Discussion
Macfarlane J, Holmes W, Gard P, Macfarlane R, Rose D, Seston V, et al. Prospective study of the incidence, aetiology and outcome of adult lower respiratory tract illness in the community. Thorax 2001;56: 109-14.
Van de Lisdonk EH, Van den Bosch WJHM, Huygen FJA, Lagro-Janssen ALM, eds. Ziekten in de huisartspraktijk . Maarsen: Elsevier/Bunge, 1999.
Metlay JP, Kapoor WN, Fine MJ. Does this patient have community-acquired pneumonia? Diagnosing pneumonia by history and physical examination. JAMA 1997;278: 1440-5.
Melbye H, Straume B, Aasebo U, Dale K. Diagnosis of pneumonia in adults in general practice. Relative importance of typical symptoms and abnormal chest signs evaluated against a radiographic reference standard. Scand J Prim Health Care 1992;10: 226-33.
Smucny JJ, Becker LA, Glazier RH, McIsaac W. Are antibiotics effective treatments for acute bronchitis? A meta-analysis. J Fam Pract 1998;47: 453-60.
Macfarlane JT, Colville A, Guion A, Macfarlane RM, Rose DH. Prospective study of aetiology and outcome of adult lower-respiratory-tract infections in the community. Lancet 1993;341: 511-4.
Heiskanen-Kosma T, Korppi M, Jokinen C, Kurki S, Heikanen L, Juvonen H, et al. Etiology of childhood pneumonia: serologic results of prospective, population-based study. Pediatr Infect Dis J 1998;17: 986-91.
Graffelman AW, Knuistingh Neven A, le Cessie S, Kroes ACM, Springer MP, Van den Broek PJ. Pathogens involved in lower respiratory tract infections in general practice. Br J Gen Pract 2004;54: 15-9.
Raherison C, Peray P, Poirier R, Romand P, Grignet JP, Arsac P, et al. Management of lower respiratory tract infections by French general practitioners: the AIR II study. Analyse Infections Respiratoires. Eur Respir J 2002;19: 314-9.
Holmes WF, Macfarlane JT, Macfarlane RM, Hubbard R. Symptoms, signs and prescribing for acute lower respiratory tract illness. Br J Gen Pract 2001;51: 177-81.
Hjortdahl P, Landaas S, Urdal P, Steinbakk M, Fuglerud P, Nygaard B. C-reactive protein: a new rapid assay for managing infectious disease in primary health care. Scand J Prim Health Care 1991;9: 3-10.
Castell JV, Gomez-Lechon MJ, David M, Fabra R, Trullen R, Heinrich PC. Acute-phase response of human hepatocytes: regulation of acute-phase protein synthesis by interleukin-6. Hepatology 1990;12: 1179-86.
Clyne B, Olshaker JS. The C-reactive protein. J Emerg Med 1999;17: 1019-25.
Johnson HL, Chiou CC, Cho CT. Applications of acute phase reactants in infectious diseases. J Microbiol Immunol Infect 1999;32: 73-82.
Young B, Gleeson M, Cripps AW. C-reactive protein: a critical review. Pathology 1991;23: 118-24.
Diederichsen HZ, Skamling M, Diederichsen A, Grinsted P, Antonsen S, Petersen PH, et al. Ugeskr Laeger 2001;163: 3784-7. (In Danish.)
Flanders SA, Stein J, Shochat G, Sellers K, Holland M, Maselli J, et al. Performance of a bedside C-reactive protein test in the diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia in adults with acute cough. Am J Med 2004;116: 529-35.
Midgette AS, Stukel TA, Littenberg B. A meta-analytic method for summarizing diagnostic test performances: receiver-operating-characteristic—summary point estimates. Med Decis Making 1993;13: 253-7.
Cochrane Methods Group on Systematic Review of Screening and Diagnostic Tests. Recommended methods, updated 6 June 1996. www.cochrane.org/docs/sadt.htm (accessed 17 Feb 2005).
Devillé WL, Buntinx F, Bouter LM, Montori VM, De Vet HCW, Van der Windt DAWM, et al. Conducting systematic reviews of diagnostic studies: didactic guidelines. BMC Med Res Methodol 2002;2: 9.
Moher D, Pham B, Klassen TP, Schulz KF, Berlin JA, Jadad AR, et al. What contributions do languages other than English make on the results of meta-analyses? J Clin Epidemiol 2000;53: 964-72.
Bachmann LM, Estermann P, Glanville J, Kronenberg C, Ter Riet G. Identifying diagnostic accuracy studies in EMBASE. J Med Libr Assoc 2003;91: 341-6.
Lijmer JG, Mol BW, Heisterkamp S, Bonsel GJ, Prins MH, Van der Meulen JHP, et al. Empirical evidence of design-related bias in studies of diagnostic tests. JAMA 1999;282: 1061-6.
Jüni P, Douglas GA, Egger M. Systematic review in health care: assessing the quality of controlled clinical trials. BMJ 2001;323: 42-6.
Cohen J. A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales. Educ Psychol Measurement 1960;20: 37-46.
Koch H, Meerkerk GJ, Zaat JO, Ham MF, Scholten RJ, Assendelft WJ. Accuracy of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin in the detection of excessive alcohol consumption: a systematic review. Alcohol Alcohol 2004;39: 75-85.
DerSimonian R, Laird N. Meta-analysis in clinical trials. Controlled Clin Trials 1986;7: 177-88.
Swaving M, Van Houwelingen H, Ottes FP, Steerneman T. Statistical comparison of ROC curves from multiple readers. Med Decis Making 1996;16: 143-52.
Albazzaz MK, Pal C, Berman P, Shale DJ. Inflammatory markers of lower respiratory tract infection in elderly people. Age Ageing 1994;23: 299-302.
Smith RP, Lipworth BJ. C-reactive protein in simple community-acquired pneumonia. Chest 1995;107: 1028-31.
Smith RP, Lipworth BJ, Cree LA, Spiers EM, Winter JH. C-reactive protein. A clinical marker in community acquired pneumonia. Chest 1995;108: 1288-91.
Korppi M, Heiskanen-Kosma T, Leinonen M. White blood cells, C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate in pneumococcal pneumonia in children. Eur Resp J 1997;10: 1125-9.
Seppa Y, Bloigu A, Honkanen PO, Miettinen L, Syrjala H. Severity assessment of lower respiratory tract infection in elderly patients in primary care. Arch Intern Med 2001;161: 2709-13.
Almirall J, Bolibar I, Toran P, Pera G, Boquet X, Balanzo X, et al. Contribution of C-reactive protein to the diagnosis and assessment of severity of community-acquired pneumonia. Chest 2004;125: 1335-42.
Toikka P, Irjala K, Juven T, Virkki R, Mertsola J, Leinonen M, et al. Serum procalcitonin, C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 for distinguishing bacterial and viral pneumonia in children. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2000;19: 598-602.
Virkki R, Juven T, Rikalainen H, Svedstrom E, Mertsola J, Ruuskanen O. Differentiation of bacterial and viral pneumonia in children. Thorax 2002;57: 438-41.
Hopstaken RM, Muris JW, Knottnerus JA, Kester AD, Rinkens PE, Dinant GJ. Contributions of symptoms, signs, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C-reactive protein to a diagnosis of pneumonia in acute lower respiratory tract infection. Br J Gen Pract 2003;53: 358-64.
Babu G, Ganguly NK, Singhi S, Walia BNS. Value of C-reactive protein concentration in diagnosis and management of acute lower respiratory infections. Trop Geogr Med 1989;41: 309-15.
Melbye H, Straume B, Brox J. Laboratory tests for pneumonia in general practice: the diagnostic values depend on the duration of illness. Scand J Prim Health Care 1992;10: 234-40.
Melbye H, Straume B, Aasebo U, Brox J. The diagnosis of adult pneumonia in general practice. Scand J Prim Health Care 1988;6: 111-7.
Prat C, Dominguez J, Rodrigo C, Gimenez M, Azuara M, Jimenez O, et al. Procalcitonin, C-reactive protein and leukocyte count in children with lower respiratory tract infection. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2003;22: 963-8.
Requejo HI, Cocoza AM. C-reactive protein in the diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia. Braz J Infect Dis 2003;7: 241-4.
Garcia Vazquez E, Martinez JA, Mensa J, Sanchez F, Marcos MA, De Roux A, et al. C-reactive protein levels in community-acquired pneumonia. Eur Respir J 2003;21: 702-5.
Hedlund J, Hansson LO. Procalcitonin and C-reactive protein levels in community-acquired pneumonia: correlation with etiology and prognosis. Infection 2000;28: 68-73.
Heiskanen-Kosma T, Korppi M. Serum C-reactive protein cannot differentiate bacterial and viral aetiology of community-acquired pneumonia in children in primary healthcare settings. Scand J Infect Dis 2000;32: 399-402.
Nohynek H, Valkeila E, Leinonen M, Eskola J. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, white blood cell count and serum C-reactive protein in assessing etiologic diagnosis of acute lower respiratory infections in children. Pediatr Infect Dis J 1995;14: 484-90.
Ortqvist A, Hedlund J, Wretlind B, Carlstrom A, Kalin M. Diagnostic and prognostic value of interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein in community-acquired pneumonia. Scand J Infect Dis 1995;27: 457-62.
Korppi M, Kroger L. C-reactive protein in viral and bacterial respiratory infection in children. Scand J Infect Dis 1993;25: 207-13.
Kerttula Y, Leinonen M, Koskela M, Makela PH. The aetiology of pneumonia. Application of bacterial serology and basic laboratory methods. J Infect 1987;14: 21-30.
McCarthy PL, Frank AL, Ablow RC, Masters SJ, Dolan TF Jr. Value of the C-reactive protein test in the differentiation of bacterial and viral pneumonia. J Pediatr 1978;92: 454-6.
Melbye H, Berdal BP, Straume B, Russell H, Vorland L, Thacker WL. Pneumonia—a clinical or radiographic diagnosis? Etiology and clinical features of lower respiratory tract infection in adults in general practice. Scand J Infect Dis 1992;24: 647-55.
Hopstaken RM, Witbraad T, Van Engelshoven JMA, Dinant GJ. Inter-observer variation in the interpretation of chest radiographs for pneumonia in community-acquired lower respiratory tract infections. Clin Radiol 2004;59: 743-52.
Bartlett JG, Mundy LM. Community-acquired pneumnia. N Engl J Med 1995;333: 1618-24.
Boersma WG, Lowenberg A, Holloway Y, Kuttschrutter H, Snijder JA, Koeter GH. Pneumococcal capsular antigen detection and pneumococcal serology in patients with community acquired pneumonia. Thorax 1991;46: 902-6.
Lim WS, Macfarlane JT, Boswell TCJ, Harrison TG, Rose D, Leinonen M, et al. Study of community acquired pneumonia aetiology (SCAPA) in adults admitted to hospital: implications for management guidelines. Thorax 2001;56: 296-301.
Lode H, Schaberg T, Raffenberg M, Mauch H. Diagnostic problems in lower respiratory tract infections. J Antimicrob Chemother 1993;(suppl A): 29-37.(Victor van der Meer, junior researcher, )
Correspondence to: V van der Meer V.van_der_Meer@lumc.nl
Objectives To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of C reactive protein in detecting radiologically proved pneumonia and to evaluate how well it can discriminate between bacterial and viral infections of the lower respiratory tract.
Data sources Medline and Embase (January 1966 to April 2004), with reference checking.
Study selection We included articles comparing C reactive protein with a chest radiograph or with microbiological work-up as a reference test. Two authors independently assessed methodological items.
Results None of the studies met all validity criteria. Six studies used an infiltrate on chest radiograph as reference test. Sensitivities ranged from 10% to 98%, specificities from 44% to 99%. For adults, the relation of C reactive protein with an infiltrate (in a subgroup analysis of five studies) showed an area under the curve of 0.80 (95% confidence interval 0.75 to 0.85). In 12 studies, the relation of C reactive protein with a bacterial aetiology of infection of the lower respiratory tract was studied. Sensitivities ranged from 8% to 99%, specificities from 27% to 95%. These data were epidemiologically and statistically heterogeneous, so overall outcomes could not be calculated.
Conclusion Testing for C reactive protein is neither sufficiently sensitive to rule out nor sufficiently specific to rule in an infiltrate on chest radiograph and bacterial aetiology of lower respiratory tract infection. The methodological quality of the diagnostic studies is generally poor. The evidence not consistently and sufficiently supports a wide introduction of C reactive protein as a rapid test to guide antibiotics prescription.
Infections of the lower respiratory tract are common in the community and comprise both acute bronchitis and pneumonia.1 2 Differentiating between these two diagnoses by history and physical examination is challenging. However, several studies show that making a diagnosis of pneumonia, defined as a new infiltrate on a chest radiograph, on the basis of clinical findings is difficult.3 4
Differentiation between pneumonia and acute bronchitis is important because of the therapeutic consequences. Bacterial pneumonia should be treated with antibiotics, whereas acute bronchitis is usually self limiting.5 Microbiological aetiology varies from 15-25% viral infection in radiologically proved pneumonia, to 15-40% viral infection in infection of the lower respiratory tract.1 6-8
Although bacterial pneumonia occurs much less often than other infections of the lower respiratory tract, in studies more than 70% of acute infections of the lower respiratory tract are treated with antibiotics.9 10 These data call for additional information, in order to detect bacterial pneumonia and to differentiate between this diagnosis and other respiratory tract infections.
C reactive protein is often proposed as the solution of this clinical dilemma.11 This is a protein of the acute phase, synthesised by hepatocytes. Its production is stimulated mainly by interleukin 6, interleukin 1 , and tumour necrosis factor in response to infection or tissue inflammation.12 Since its identification in 1930, C reactive protein has been studied as a screening device for inflammation, a marker for disease activity, and as a diagnostic adjunct.13 However, even though values of C reactive protein may reflect the severity of inflammation or tissue injury, its role in differentiating bacterial from viral infections is not proved.14 15 With the availability of rapid or bedside tests, particularly in general practice, determining its diagnostic value is of increasing importance.16 17 We assessed the value of C reactive protein in the detection of radiologically proved pneumonia. In addition, we evaluated whether C reactive protein can differentiate bacterial from viral infections of the lower respiratory tract.
Methods
We performed an electronic search according to the most recent recommendations.18 19 20 We searched the databases Medline (January 1966 to April 2004) and Embase (January 1980 to April 2004). This strategy included the medical subject headings and text words "C-reactive protein", "pneumonia", "acute bronchitis", and "lower respiratory tract infection", and the text words "C reactive protein" and "lower respiratory infection". We included only articles in English.21 We applied methodological filters for Medline and Embase.20 22 We supplemented the search by reference checking. The complete search strategy is available from the first author (VvdM).
Selection of studies
On the basis of title and , the first author (VvdM) selected full text articles. We aimed to include studies that compared C reactive protein with a chest radiograph (tackling our first research question), or microbiological work-up (discriminative value for bacterial and viral aetiology). We excluded articles concerning immunocompromised patients, patients treated in intensive care units, or patients with hospital acquired pneumonia. Data that were published twice or more often were selected only once.
Quality assessment
We used the guidelines of the Cochrane methods group on systematic reviews of screening and diagnostic tests to assess the quality of the studies.19 Table A on bmj.com shows how we used these guidelines. Lijmer et al defined four methodological criteria that overestimate the accuracy of a diagnostic test if these standards are not applied.23 We used these Lijmer criteria to test robustness in the sensitivity analysis.24
Fig 1 Flow of studies through the stages of the review
Two authors (VvdM and AKN) independently assessed study quality. Disagreements were solved after discussion of the study details.
Data extraction
We constructed cross tables for calculating sensitivity and specificity for different cut-off points and extracted cut-off points for C reactive protein values. We aimed to extract three cross tables for three different values per study. If this was not possible on the basis of the reported data, we contacted the authors and asked them to provide the required additional data. All studies with quantitative information were eligible for statistical analysis.
Statistical analysis
We used the statistic as a measure of agreement on quality assessment.25 For all studies, we extracted sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative likelihood ratios for different cut-off points. We applied a statistical model for summarising performances of diagnostic tests that was based on that of Midgette et al.18 26 We calculated Spearman's correlation of true positive rates and true negative rates. We calculated areas under the curve for each study to follow inverse correlation. We used a DerSimonian-Laird 2 test to test heterogeneity of these areas under the curve.27 28 We drew a summary receiver operating characteristic curve if data were homogeneous. We investigated the possibility of subgroup analysis and reported outcomes. We based a priori defined subgroups on age, setting, and sex.
We performed a sensitivity analysis by pooling separately the studies that met all four Lijmer criteria and those that did not.
Results
Figure 1 summarises the search strategy and selection of the identified studies. Of the 165 citations in Medline and 340 citations in Embase, we retrieved 22 full text copies on the basis of title and . Reference checking retrieved one additional study. We excluded five studies as they did not meet the inclusion criteria.29 30 31 32 33 One study was conducted using both reference standards—radiology and microbiological aetiology.34 One study was published in two different articles,35 36 which meant that 17 studies were published in 18 articles.
Quality assessment
Table 1 shows the results of the quality assessment according to the validity criteria in table A (see bmj.com). Initial agreement between the two quality assessors was 82.5% ( = 0.68).
Table 1 Quality assessment of the 17 studies
Study characteristics
Table 2 lists the characteristics of the 17 studies included in the quality assessment. Regarding our first research question, all studies but one38 dealt with adults. Three studies were done in primary care,37 39 40 two in secondary care,17 38 and one in a mixed population in primary and secondary care.34
Table 2 Characteristics of 17 retrieved studies testing for C reactive protein in infections of the lower respiratory tract, with reference test infiltrate on chest radiograph (first research question) or aetiological microbiological diagnosis (second research question)
Of the studies dealing with our second research question, most deal with children, although five of them assessed adults.34 43 44 47 49 Two studies were conducted in a mixed primary and secondary care population34 45; all others included secondary care populations.
Test performance
The results of the test performance of C reactive protein with regard to the detection of an infiltrate on a chest radiograph or to the detection of a bacterial aetiology of lower respiratory tract infection are shown in table B on bmj.com and figure 2.
Fig 2 Sensitivity-specificity plot (with 95% confidence intervals) of C reactive protein in relation to detection of an infiltrate (top) or bacterial aetiology (bottom). Measurements of C reactive protein are presented in ascending order
Detection of an infiltrate
With respect to our first research question, we derived 17 data points out of six studies (n = 1178; the number is determined by the number of patients contributing to a data point). Sensitivities ranged from 10% to 98%, specificities from 44% to 99%. Sensitivity and specificity were inversely related: Spearman's correlation coefficient was -0.33, P < 0.01 (2 test). Subgroup analysis in adults (five studies providing 14 data points) resulted in a Spearman's of -0.82, P = 0.40 (2 test).17 34 37 39 40 Figure 3 shows the summary receiver operating characteristic curve of this homogeneous subgroup. The area under the curve is 0.80 (95% confidence interval 0.75 to 0.85). Subgroups based on setting or sex could not be analysed, since they were too small (setting) or not available (lack of information on sex).
Fig 3 Summary receiver operating characteristic curve of five studies dealing with the radiological detection of an infiltrate in adults
Sensitivity analysis of the areas under the curves of the studies that fulfilled all Lijmer criteria (area under the curve 0.84, 95% confidence interval 0.78 to 0.90)17 37 40 and those that did not34 39 (0.74, 0.65 to 0.83) showed robustness of the data.
Bacterial aetiology
Of the 12 studies dealing with our second research question, we obtained sufficient quantitative data to calculate sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios for eight studies (n = 1096). Four authors were not able to provide additional data, because these data were not available any more.43 44 47 49 One did not respond.50
Sensitivities ranged from 8% to 99%, specificities from 27% to 95%. Spearman's for these eight studies was -0.49, P < 0.01 (2 test). Subgroup analysis in children (six studies providing 16 data points) resulted in a Spearman's of -0.65, P < 0.01 (2 test).36 41 42 45 46 48 A summary receiver operating characteristic curve for children could not be drawn because of statistical heterogeneity. We could not perform subgroup analysis based on setting or sex because none of the studies was conducted in primary care and data on sex were not available.
None of the studies fulfilled all four of the Lijmer criteria, so it was not possible to compare studies of different methodological quality.
Discussion
Macfarlane J, Holmes W, Gard P, Macfarlane R, Rose D, Seston V, et al. Prospective study of the incidence, aetiology and outcome of adult lower respiratory tract illness in the community. Thorax 2001;56: 109-14.
Van de Lisdonk EH, Van den Bosch WJHM, Huygen FJA, Lagro-Janssen ALM, eds. Ziekten in de huisartspraktijk . Maarsen: Elsevier/Bunge, 1999.
Metlay JP, Kapoor WN, Fine MJ. Does this patient have community-acquired pneumonia? Diagnosing pneumonia by history and physical examination. JAMA 1997;278: 1440-5.
Melbye H, Straume B, Aasebo U, Dale K. Diagnosis of pneumonia in adults in general practice. Relative importance of typical symptoms and abnormal chest signs evaluated against a radiographic reference standard. Scand J Prim Health Care 1992;10: 226-33.
Smucny JJ, Becker LA, Glazier RH, McIsaac W. Are antibiotics effective treatments for acute bronchitis? A meta-analysis. J Fam Pract 1998;47: 453-60.
Macfarlane JT, Colville A, Guion A, Macfarlane RM, Rose DH. Prospective study of aetiology and outcome of adult lower-respiratory-tract infections in the community. Lancet 1993;341: 511-4.
Heiskanen-Kosma T, Korppi M, Jokinen C, Kurki S, Heikanen L, Juvonen H, et al. Etiology of childhood pneumonia: serologic results of prospective, population-based study. Pediatr Infect Dis J 1998;17: 986-91.
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