Quality assurance studies in eight State tuberculosis laboratories in India

Paramasivan, C N and Venkataraman, P and Vasantham, J S and Rahman, F and Narayanan, P R (2003) Quality assurance studies in eight State tuberculosis laboratories in India. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 7 (6). pp. 522-527. ISSN Print: 1027-3719; Online: 1815-7920

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Abstract

SETTING: Tuberculosis Research Centre, Chennai, India. OBJECTIVE: To undertake quality assurance studies in sputum smear microscopy at eight State-level laboratories in India using a panel of stained smears. DESIGN: Coded panels of stained smears (100 slides in rounds I–IV and 50 slides in Round V), comprising different grades of positivity, were sent to each centre at 6- monthly intervals. The results obtained were analysed for consistency of positive and negative results and overall agreement, as well as discordance. RESULTS: Consistency of positives ranged from 38% to 100%, indicating under-reading at some sites. The negative consistency was better, however, with only five of the total of 95 readers in all rounds yielding a consistency of less than 100%. Considering overall agreement, seven of the eight centres showed an agreement of over 90%. Four of the eight centres gave no false-positive result. For the remaining centres the false positivity rate varied from 2% to 7%. A wide variation was also observed in the proportion of false-negatives (3%–52%). CONCLUSIONS: This study helped in the evaluation of the performance of individual laboratories and in identifying the drawbacks of this system of proficiency testing.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	tuberculosis; sputum smear microscopy; proficiency panel testing; eight states; India
Subjects:	Tuberculosis > Laboratory Research > Bacteriological
Divisions:	Basic Science Research > Bacteriology
Depositing User:	Dr. Rathinasabapati R
Date Deposited:	12 Nov 2013 11:11
Last Modified:	09 Mar 2016 10:57
URI:	http://eprints.nirt.res.in/id/eprint/606

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