[Accuracy evaluation of diagnostic test in laboratory].

The theory and application of ROC curve are briefly introduced in this paper. Three main ROC curve related indices, area under curve (AUC), partial area under curve (pAUC), and sensitivity at a particular false-positive-rate (1-specificity) [Se(FPR=e)], are used to analyze a real data of five hepatitis B surface agent kits with calculated steps and explanation, including the bootstrap method for statistical inference of these indices.

[A nested case control study for risk factors impacting hepatitis B vaccination in Hebei, China].

OBJECTIVE: Study the risk factors that impact the effectiveness of mass hepatitis B vaccination, and try to amend them in the future. METHOD: Based on the national surveillance of hepatitis B, all the 1734 of 1-15 years old children from Hebei Province were enrolled in the present study and they were divided into case and control group according to their sera HBsAg were positive or not. RESULTS: Mother sera HBsAg positive and the hospital the children were born and earlier year of birth were risk factors. CONCLUSION: The effectiveness of mass neonate hepatitis B vaccination has greatly improved and the future focus should be on finding pregnant HBsAg positive women, and encourage them to give birth in better hospitals, and at the mean time, try to make the neonate hepatitis B vaccination perfect, especially in country areas.

Long-term disability from acute childhood Japanese encephalitis in Shanghai, China.

We traced 85 Japanese encephalitis (JE) patients, 6-27 years after hospitalizations. The first control group was made up of 73 non-JE encephalitis patients 6-27 years previously, whereas the second control group was made up 78 neighborhood residents, matched to the 78 surviving JE cases by age, sex, and residence. All subjects were examined with neurologic examinations, intelligence quotient (IQ) measurement, Mini-Mental State Examinations (MMSE), and activities of daily living (ADL) assessments. At follow-up, 22% of JE patients had objective neurologic deficits compared with 3% of non-JE encephalitis patients. Moreover, 28% of JE patients had subnormal IQs, as opposed to 2% non-JE encephalitis patients. Abnormal ADL scores were only noted in 15% JE patients. All neighborhood controls had normal examination results, and one non-JE encephalitis case showed mildly reduced IQ. The study showed that significant neurologic and overall functional disability were evident in a high proportion of JE survivors many years after their index hospitalizations.

Incidence of diarrhea caused by rotavirus infections in rural Zhengding, China: prospective, population-based surveillance.

Rotavirus is the pathogen most commonly associated with severe gastroenteritis in young children in the People's Republic of China, yet there are few population-based data on the incidence of rotavirus infection. The present study investigated the burden of rotavirus diarrhea and rotavirus infections in rural China, according to age. Population-based surveillance was used to study the incidence of rotavirus infection among children <5 years of age in 4 townships of Zhengding County, Hebei Province, China. The total population in the catchment area in 2002 was 75,630 individuals, including 2997 children aged <5 years. Stool samples were obtained and were tested for rotavirus antigen by use of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. During 2002, a total of 2010 cases of diarrhea were detected among children <5 years of age. The incidence of treated cases of diarrhea was 671 cases/1000 children/year for children <5 years of age, and it was highest for children <12 months of age (1467 cases/1000 children/year). The estimated incidence of rotavirus infection was 151 cases/1000 children/year for children <5 years of age. The highest incidence of rotavirus infection was among children aged 1-2 years (340 cases/1000 children/year). Widespread immunization of children against rotavirus before 6 months of age should be considered for the control of rotavirus diarrhea.

[An effective method to reduce bias between two compared groups: propensity score].

OBJECTIVE: Through introduction of principal theory and algorithm of propensity score to design SAS macro programs for binary data. METHODS: Propensity score method was used to compare the differences of character variables between two groups, and the association of DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) with the mortality of congestive heart failure was evaluated with different methods. RESULTS: Significant differences among the character variables between two groups were effectively balanced with stratification or matching method. The odds ratios of DNR with the in-hospital mortality rate of congestive heart failure were estimated identical with different algorithms and to find that the association of DNR to in-hospital mortality was highly significant. CONCLUSION: Propensity score was a good algorithm that could be used to analyze any kind of observational data for matching the effects among the character variables.