Comparison of Rapid Diagnostic Test with Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay and PCR for Detection of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen

Purpose: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a global public health problem with significant morbidity and mortality rates and the detection of HBsAg is a very important test for diagnosis. Ideally, rapid tests should have a high sensitivity and an acceptable level of specificity, so that false positive and false negative results can be prevented. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of rapid screening tests with confirmed cases with ELISA and PCR. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted as a prospective study in a tertiary hospital in Samsun between February 2024 and March 2024. A total of 160 blood samples sent to the microbiology laboratory for HBsAg testing from various departments were included in the study. All samples were studied with a rapid test after being studied with ELISA and PCR methods. Results: Compared to ELISA, the rapid test had a specificity of 97.70%, a sensitivity of 87.20%,a positive predictive value (PPV) of 57.82% and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 99.53%. In addition, when the HBs Ag rapid test was compared with PCR, the sensitivity was 44.50% and the specificity was 47.40%. Conclusion: Our study concluded that rapid tests have high specificity and acceptable sensitivity compared to ELISA, but they are not sufficiently consistent when compared to PCR.