Mycoplasma pneumoniae as a causative agent of community-acquired pneumonia in children: clinical features and laboratory diagnosis

Table 5 Diagnostic values of different methods with a fourfold or greater increase of IgG antibody titers in paired sera as the gold standard

	Sensitivity (%)	Specificity (%)	PPV (%)	NPV (%)	PLR
Serology (IgM antibodies)	81.82	100.00	100.00	97.30
RT-PCR	81.82	98.61	90.00	97.26	58.91
Culture	81.82	100.00	100.00	97.30

Date are presented as percentage.
RT-PCR: real-time polymerase chain reaction; PPV: positive predictive value; NPV: negative predictive value; PLR: positive likelihood ratio.

ISSN: 1824-7288