Evaluation of sensitivity and specificity of Kato-Katz and circulating cathodic antigen in terms of Schistosoma japonicum using latent class analysis

Abstract

Abstract Schistosoma japonicum is endemic in the Philippines. The Kato-Katz (KK) method was used to diagnose S. japonicum. This is impractical, particularly when the sample size is limited. Knowledge on point-of-care circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) test performance for S. japonicum is limited. Determining the sensitivity and specificity of new diagnostics is difficult when the gold standard test is less effective or absent. Latent class analysis (LCA) can address some limitations. A total of 484 children and 572 adults from the Philippines were screened for S. japonicum. We performed Bayesian LCA to estimate the infection prevalence, sensitivity and specificity of each test by stratifying them into two age groups. Observed prevalence assessed by KK was 50.2% and 31.8%, and by CCA was 89.9% and 66.8%, respectively. Using Bayesian LCA, among children, the sensitivity and specificity of CCA were 94.8% (88.7–99.4) and 21.5% (10.5–36.1) while those of KK were 66.0% (54.2–83.3) and 78.1% (61.1–91.3). Among adults, the sensitivity and specificity of CCA were 86.4% (76.6–96.9) and 62.8% (49.1–81.1) while those of KK were 43.6% (35.1–53.9) and 85.5% (75.8–94.6). Overall, CCA was more sensitive than KK, regardless of the age group at diagnosis, as KK was more specific. KK and CCA have different diagnostic performance, which should inform their use in the planning and implementation of S. japonicum control programs.