Sensitivity and Specificity of Occupational Health Doctors in Reading Pneumoconiosis Radiographs

Phanumas Krisorn¹, Naesinee Chaiear^1, , Ponglada Subhannachart², Narongpon Dumavibhat³ and Sutarat Tungsagunwattana²

¹Division of Occupational Medicine, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University

²Central Chest Institute of Thailand, Department of Medical Services, Ministry of Public Health

³Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University

Cite this paper

Phanumas Krisorn, Naesinee Chaiear, Ponglada Subhannachart, Narongpon Dumavibhat and Sutarat Tungsagunwattana. Sensitivity and Specificity of Occupational Health Doctors in Reading Pneumoconiosis Radiographs. American Journal of Public Health Research. 2018; 6(2):106-110. doi: 10.12691/AJPHR-6-2-13

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to examine the sensitivity and specificity of occupational health doctors (OHDs)’ reading of early-stage pneumoconiosis radiographs. Materials and Methods: A screening test was applied, and 33 OHDs consented to participate in the study. There were atotal of 67 chest radiographs, which consisted of normal and early-stage pneumoconiosis film. The cut-point for disease was set at profusion0/1 and 1/0. Mean sensitivity and specificity for small opacity detection were analyzed. Results: The median sensitivity of ILO profusion of 0/1 or above was 88% (IQR 10.3), and the median sensitivity of film with a 1/0 cutoff pointwas slightly higher at90% (IQR 10.3).The average specificity for ILO profusion of 0/1 or above was 43.3% (SD21.1). Upon increasing the cut-point at profusion1/0, the average specificity increased to 47.0% (SD 20.9). Conclusion: This study showed that occupational health doctors were able to interpret chest radiographs of workers with early-stage pneumoconiosis. This indicates that the development of OHDs’ chest X-ray reading skillsis valuable in order to improve the national pneumoconiosis surveillance system.

Keywords

silicosis, ILO classification, chest radiograph, sensitivity, occupational health doctor

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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