CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 173Dermatological diseases and infestationsDermatology and Skin DiseasesNail Diseases and Treatments

Comparison of dermoscopy, skin scraping, and the adhesive tape test for the diagnosis of scabies in a resource-poor setting.

Walter, Birke, Heukelbach, Jörg, Fengler, Gernot, Worth, Christine, Hengge, Ulrich, Feldmeier, Hermann·2011·Archives of Dermatology
DOI 10.1001/archdermatol.2011.51
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Scabies is a parasitic skin disease endemic in resource-poor communities in low-income countries. The best ways to diagnose scabies in this setting have not been investigated. OBJECTIVE: To compare the diagnostic properties of dermoscopy, the microscopic examination of a skin scraping, and the adhesive tape test in 125 patients with a presumptive diagnosis of scabies. DESIGN: A prospective evaluator-blinded study. RESULTS: The sensitivity of dermoscopy was 0.83 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.70-0.94) and significantly higher than the sensitivity of the adhesive tape test (0.68; 95% CI, 0.52-0.81; P < .001). The sensitivity of skin scraping was low (0.46; 95% CI, 0.31-0.62). The specificity of dermoscopy was 0.46 (95% CI, 0.34-0.58); by definition, it was 1.00 for skin scraping and the adhesive tape test. The negative predictive value was identical for dermoscopy and the adhesive tape test (0.85; 95% CI, 0.69-0.94 and 0.75-0.91, respectively) but significantly lower for skin scraping (0.77; 95% CI, 0.67-0.84; P < .001). The sensitivity of dermoscopy increased with the severity of the disease, whereas the sensitivity of the adhesive tape test did not depend on this characteristic. Limitations Because of active case finding, the duration of the infestation was short and the severity of disease was rather low in most patients. The rather short duration of the infestation might have affected the diagnostic properties of each test in different ways. CONCLUSIONS: When trained personnel are available, dermoscopy is a valid tool for diagnosing scabies in a resource-poor setting. The adhesive tape test is easy to perform and, because it has high positive and negative predictive values, the test is ideal for screening purposes. Skin scraping cannot be recommended as a diagnostic tool in this setting.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1001/archdermatol.2011.51

Cites

30 of 30 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Skin scrapings for scabies have low sensitivity and are time consuming.

    “Skin scrapings can be examined under the microscope to identify organisms, although this method has low sensitivity and is time consuming (1403).”

    From Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines, 2021 (2021) · cites this paper as [1403]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Walter, B., Heukelbach, J., Fengler, G., Worth, C., Hengge, U., & Feldmeier, H.
Affiliations
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE)
ORCID
Venue
Archives of Dermatology
Publisher
American Medical Association (AMA)
Published
2011-04-11
Volume
147
Issue
4
Pages
468
ISSN
0003-987X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1001/archdermatol.2011.51
OpenAlex
W2026192812
Cited by
173
References
30
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 10
FWCI
5.38
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Archives of Dermatology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › Dermatological diseases and infestations
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Dermatology › Dermatology and Skin Diseases
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Nail Diseases and Treatments
Keywords
scabies, dermoscopy, skin scraping, adhesive tape test, sensitivity and specificity, resource-limited settings, disease severity, active case finding, screening, mite infestation
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Animals, Antiparasitic Agents, Benzoates, Child, Child, Preschool, Developing Countries, Female, Humans, Ivermectin, Male, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Sarcoptes scabiei, Scabies, Sensitivity and Specificity, Dermoscopy, Surgical Tape, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review