Investigation of the inter-observer agreement rates for morphometric evaluation of the growth of Microsporum canis colonies

Abstract

Morphometry is a newly applied method for investigation of the in-vitro growth dynamics of dermatophyte colonies. This study was undertaken to evaluate the correlation and agreement rates between the morphometric data obtained by different observers. For this purpose, five different Microsporum canis growth data were evaluated by six observers. The results of the study suggested that the agreement rates among the data obtained by different observers were low (R1 = -5.3509), while the results obtained by a single observer at different reading time points were consistent and correlated with the estimated growth rate. We thus recommend the evaluation of morphometric test results by a single observer for optimal standardization and consistency.