The results of the receiver operating characteristic analysis for parameters with potential discriminative value between malignant and non-malignant eosinophilic pleural effusions
| Accurate cut-off level | Sensitivity(95% CI) | Specificity(95% CI) | PLR | NLR | PPV | NPV | p-value# | |
| Age yrs | >62 | 74.5 (59.6–86.0) | 51.1 (40.2–61.9) | 1.52 | 0.5 | 44.9 | 78.9 | 0.02 |
| Eosinophils blood % | ≤5 | 72.2 (54.8–85.8) | 56.1 (42.4–69.3) | 1.65 | 0.49 | 51.0 | 76.2 | 0.04 |
| WBC blood ×109·L−1 | >8.6 | 76.3 (59.8–88.5) | 58.3 (46.1–69.8) | 1.83 | 0.41 | 49.2 | 82.4 | 0.0005 |
| LDH pleural fluid U·L−1 | >929 | 66.0 (50.7–79.1) | 57.1 (45.9–67.9) | 1.54 | 0.6 | 46.3 | 75 | 0.008 |
PLR: positive likelihood ratio; NLR: negative likelihood ratio; PPV: positive predictive value; NPV: negative predictive value: WBC: white blood cells; LDH: lactate dehydrogenase. #: area = 0.5.