Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28748396›Full record

ArticleEuropean journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology2017

Disagreement between the results from three commercial tests for the detection of Borrelia-specific serum antibodies in the Netherlands associated with antibiotic treatment for Lyme borreliosis: a retrospective study.

T van Gorkom, K Kremer, W Voet, D W Notermans, B J M Vlaminckx, S U C Sankatsing, S F T Thijsen

Open access · hybridAbstract readComparative Study
In one paragraph

Article in European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.4field-weighted citation impact, top 40% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Serum Borrelia IgG as a rule-out test in suspected lyme neuroborreliosis: a large retrospective cohort study.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2026
    Article
  3. Review
  4. Evaluation of different standard and modified two-tier testing strategies for the laboratory diagnosis of lyme borreliosis in a European setting.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2024
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

T van GorkomDepartment of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Diakonessenhuis Hospital, Bosboomstraat 1, 3582 KE, Utrecht, The Netherlands. tvgorkom@diakhuis.nl.
K KremerCentre for Infectious Diseases Research, Diagnostics and Screening, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
W VoetDepartment of Neurology, Diakonessenhuis Hospital, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
D W NotermansCentre for Infectious Diseases Research, Diagnostics and Screening, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
B J M VlaminckxDepartment of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, St. Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.
S U C SankatsingDepartment of Internal Medicine, Diakonessenhuis Hospital, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
S F T ThijsenDepartment of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Diakonessenhuis Hospital, Bosboomstraat 1, 3582 KE, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Diakonessenhuis hospital · NLNational Institute for Public Health and the Environment · NLSt. Antonius Ziekenhuis · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis is challenging because of the often non-specific symptoms and persisting antibodies after infection. We investigated the diagnostic characteristics of two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) and an immunoblot for the detection of Borrelia-specific serum antibodies using different test strategies in individuals with and without antibiotic treatment for Lyme borreliosis. This retrospective study included healthy individuals, patients with active Lyme neuroborreliosis and patients treated for Lyme neuroborreliosis. Two ELISAs were compared: the C6 ELISA and the SERION ELISA. Equivocal and positive results were confirmed by immunoblot. We included 174 healthy individuals, of whom 27 (15.5%) were treated for Lyme borreliosis in the past, 36 patients were treated for Lyme neuroborreliosis and 27 patients had active Lyme neuroborreliosis. All the active Lyme neuroborreliosis patients were reactive in both ELISAs (100% sensitivity); less reactivity was seen in the other three groups (range 17.7% to 69.4%). The concordance between the ELISA results was high in active Lyme neuroborreliosis patients (26/27; 96.3%) and healthy individuals (131/147; 89.1%), but lower in treated healthy individuals (18/27; 66.7%) and treated Lyme neuroborreliosis patients (18/36; 50.0%) (p ≤ 0.005). This study showed that antibiotic treatment against Lyme borreliosis was strongly associated with discordant ELISA and test strategy results (odds ratio: 10.52; p < 0.001 and 9.98; p = 0.014, respectively) suggesting antibiotic treatment influences the pace at which the various antibodies directed to the different antigens used in both ELISAs wane. Among treated neuroborreliosis patients, the SERION ELISA stayed positive for a longer period after infection compared to the C6 ELISA. This should be taken into consideration when requesting and/or interpreting Lyme serology.

Indexed as

AdultAgedAnti-Bacterial AgentsAntibodies, BacterialBorrelia burgdorferiCross ReactionsEnzyme-Linked Immunosorbent AssayFemaleHumansImmunoblottingImmunoglobulin GImmunoglobulin MLyme NeuroborreliosisMaleMiddle AgedNetherlandsAnti-Bacterial AgentsAntibodies, BacterialImmunoglobulin GImmunoglobulin M

Identifiers

PMID28748396
PMCPMC5653717
OpenAlexW2738868685

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.