Intra and interrater reliability in the Mantoux technique
Section: Cover story
How to quote
Fernández S et al. Fiabilidad intra e interlectores en la técnica de Mantoux. Metas de Enfermería jul/ago 2001; 4(6): 22-29
Authors
1Silvia Fernández Rodríguez, 2María Ordobás Gavín, 3Mª Pilar Serrano Gallardo
Position
1Enfermera epidemióloga. Servicio de Epidemiología. Dirección General de Salud Pública. Comunidad de Madrid. 2Médica epidemióloga. Servicio de Epidemiología. Dirección General de Salud Pública. Comunidad de Madrid. 3Enfermera docente de la EUE Universidad Puerta de Hierro, Madrid.
Contact address
SErvicio de Epidemiología. Dirección General de Salud Pública. C/ O'Donell, 52, 2ª. 28009 Madrid.
Contact email: silvia.fernandez@comadrid.es
Abstract
Objective: to determine the inter and intra-reader agreement, related with the administration and reading of the tuberculin test (TT) among nurses who were going to participate in the fieldwork of the III Tuberculin Survey in the population of school children aged 6 years in the Autonomous Community of Madrid (CM) (1999- 2000).
Materials and methods: a transversal descriptive study was performed in 99 volunteers selected by convenience sample. Eight nurses, previously trained, administered TT to each volunteer in both arms; the reading after 72 hours according to the Sokal technique was performed by the nurse who administered the test and by an expert. In order to find intra-rater agreement, the coefficient of variation and the kappa coefficient were calculated. The Pearson correlation coefficient and the kappa coefficient were calculated to measure the inter-observer variability.
Results: the reading was performed in 89 subjects; both the intrarater and the interrater agreement, obtained by different coefficients, was high, with the coefficient of variation remaining below the preset 30% and reaching values approaching 1 both for the Pearson correlation coefficient and the kappa coefficient.
Conclusions: the specific training prior to the study played a decisive role in the good results obtained. The findings of the study guarantee the reliability of the results from the III Tuberculin Survey in the Autonomous Community of Madrid.
Keywords:
Mantoux; tuberculin test; intrarater reliability; interrater reliabilitytuberculosis
Versión en Español
Título:
