[Meta-analysis of the usefulness of ELISA, PCR, and immunochromatography for the diagnosis of ChikungunyaMeta-análise da utilidade dos exames ELISA, PCR e imunocromatografia no diagnóstico de febre chikungunya].

OBJECTIVE

Evaluate the usefulness of ELISA, PCR, and immunochromatography for the diagnosis of Chikungunya.

METHODS

A meta-analysis of studies reporting diagnostic validity data was performed, using an ex-ante protocol with six search strategies in three multidisciplinary databases. Replicability in the selection and retrieval of information was guaranteed; quality was evaluated using the QUADAS (Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies) guide; the analyses were performed in MetaDisc, with specific measures, confidence intervals, and combined results under a random-effects model.

RESULTS

A total of 19 studies were included, one with IgG ELISA, two with antigencapture ELISA, five with IgM ELISA, eight with qPCR, and three with immunochromatography. The articles were published primarily in India (37%) between 2009 and 2015, using a combination of clinical symptoms, RT-PCR, ELISA, neutralization assay, or viral isolation as the reference test. The population consisted of 1 108 healthy individuals, 394 with another infection (mainly dengue), and 1 288 with Chikungunya. In IgM ELISA and qPCR, the sensitivity and specificity were greater than 90%, the positive probability quotient was greater than 10, the negative probability quotient was less than 0.1, the diagnostic odds ratio was greater than 100, and the area under the curve was 0.99.