Interexaminer variability in common ratings in reading Streptococcus mutans dip‐slides with or without a microscope

Abstract

Murtomaa H, Meurman JH, Rantama A, Levo S: Interexaminer variability in common ratings in reading Streptococcus mutans dip-slides with or without a microscope. Scand J Dent Res 1987; 95: 144-50.Abstract -The obseri'er variability in reading 145 S. mutans dip-slides was assessed by a test panel consisting of a professional bacteriologist, practising dentists and unskilled laymen. The cultivated slides were read and classified into four categories by comparing them with standard photographs of previously cultivated slides with known numbers of S. mutans colonies. For reference, all the slides were also counted under a stereomicroscope. The results showed both under-and overesdmation in the visual reading, but the scoring trend was logically increasing in relation to the microscopic reference scores in each case. The significance of the ,agreement on the ratings was high and it further increased when the results were recombined by classifying them into three categories. The individual agreement percentages varied then from 54 in the laymen to 79 in the bacteriologist. The use of a microscope did not significantly increase the number of common readings and cannot be considered necessary in practice. Reading the slides, however, definitely reqtiires understanding and experience of the method.

Efficacy of a dip slide test for mutans streptococci in caries risk assessment

“…This result is in agreement with other studies (13,33,34) that verified the finding that reproducibility declines as the number of scores increases. This result is in agreement with other studies (13,33,34) that verified the finding that reproducibility declines as the number of scores increases.…”

“…Regarding the interexaminer agreement, the kappa value for the count classification (kΩ0.79) was higher than the kappa value for the 6-score classification (kΩ0.55), which was expected due to the grouping process of the scores. This result is in agreement with other studies (13,33,34) that verified the finding that reproducibility declines as the number of scores increases.…”

Interexaminer Agreement for Readings of Dip Slide Tests for Salivary Mutans Streptococci and Lactobacilli

“…Another examiner may have scored the same dip slide as 0 (no growth), recognizing that the colonies were not mutans streptococci or lactobacilli. Murtomaa et al [1987] compared the abilities of 1 mi crobiologist, 2 dentists, and 2 lay persons to read mutans streptococci dip slides. Their readings were compared to readings of the same slides made with a stereomicroscope by one of the authors.…”

Reprodutibilidade de um teste microbiológico para estreptococos do grupo mutans

“…O mesmo foi observado por MURTOMAA et al 19 , em 1987: o uso de três escores, ao invés de quatro, promoveu o aumento da concordância, nas avaliações realizadas pela equipe de examinadores. No atual estudo, o valor de concordância foi maior para a classificação quanto à contagem microbiológica do que para a classificação em 6 escores, mostrando que há mais discordância ao se utilizar um número maior de níveis de classificação.…”