Interobserver agreement for graded morphological items expressed as weighted κ values with 95% confidence interval
| A v B (n=263) | A v C (n=279) | B v C (n=254) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AChE activity in the lamina muscularis mucosae (all patients) | 0.55 ( 0.47 to 0.63) | 0.64 ( 0.57 to 0.70) | 0.73 ( 0.68 to 0.77) |
| AChE activity in the lamina muscularis mucosae (HD excluded) | 0.15 (−0.01 to 0.31) (n=209) | 0.20 ( 0.04 to 0.35) (n=210) | 0.29 ( 0.17 to 0.42) (n=194) |
| AChE activity in the lamina propria mucosae (all patients) | 0.36 ( 0.30 to 0.42) | 0.56 ( 0.49 to 0.63) | 0.56 ( 0.50 to 0.62) |
| AChE activity in the lamina propria mucosae (HD excluded) | 0.13 ( 0.06 to 0.20) (n=209) | 0.34 ( 0.23 to 0.45) (n=210) | 0.23 ( 0.13 to 0.33) (n=194) |
| AChE activity in the adventitia around submucous blood vessels | 0.11 ( 0.03 to 0.26) | 0.12 (−0.04 to 0.28) | 0.26 ( 0.15 to 0.37) |
| AChE activity in afferent submucous fibres | 0.32 ( 0.22 to 0.42) | 0.33 ( 0.22 to 0.44) | 0.59 ( 0.51 to 0.66) |
| Number of ganglia | 0.67 ( 0.59 to 0.75) | 0.61 ( 0.54 to 0.69) | 0.76 ( 0.68 to 0.83) |
| Size of ganglia | 0.69 ( 0.60 to 0.77) | 0.71 ( 0.65 to 0.77) | 0.76 ( 0.67 to 0.84) |
| Bud-like nerve cell groups along afferent fibres | 0.10 (−0.21 to 0.40) | −0.06 (−0.34 to 0.22) | 0.09 (−0.20 to 0.38) |
| Maximal number of nerve cells/ganglion | 0.76 ( 0.67 to 0.84) | 0.77 ( 0.72 to 0.83) | 0.76 ( 0.67 to 0.85) |
| LDH activity in nerve cells | 0.69 ( 0.60 to 0.78) | 0.67 ( 0.59 to 0.75) | 0.78 ( 0.70 to 0.86) |
| SDH activity in nerve cells | 0.64 ( 0.55 to 0.73) | 0.63 ( 0.54 to 0.72) | 0.79 ( 0.72 to 0.87) |
Results are given for all items of the whole study population and also for the first two features after excluding specimens of patients with Hirschsprung’s disease (HD). Negative values in the confidence interval indicate that the observed agreement is not significantly different from chance agreement.
AChE, acetylcholinesterase; LDH, lactate dehydrogenase; SDH, succinate dehydrogenase.