Equivalence test for the three methods and comparison of the paired results (McNemar test)
| p-value (McNemar test) | Difference | 90% CI | 95% CI | |
| Haemophilus influenzae | ||||
| OP/CP-SP | 0.014 | −5.4 | −10.5 to −0.3# | −11.5 to 0.7# |
| OP/CP-OP | 0.144 | −2.5 | −7.4 to 2.5 | −8.4 to 3.4 |
| CP-SP/CP-OP | 0.194 | 2.9 | −2.3 to 8.2 | −3.3 to 9.2 |
| Pseudomonas aeruginosa | ||||
| OP/CP-SP | 0.003 | −5.5 | −10.0 to −1.1# | −10.8 to −0.2# |
| OP/CP-OP | 0.029 | −3.1 | −7.3 to 1.1 | −8.1 to 2.0 |
| CP-SP/CP-OP | 0.144 | 2.4 | −2.2 to 7.1 | −3.1 to 8.0 |
| Staphylococcus aureus | ||||
| OP/CP-SP | 0.159 | −3.7 | −10.5 to 3.0# | −11.8 to 4.3# |
| OP/CP-OP | 0.262 | −2.4 | −9.1 to 4.4 | −10.4 to 5.7# |
| CP-SP/CP-OP | 0.466 | 1.4 | −5.4 to 8.1 | −6.7 to 9.4 |
Differences, 90% confidence intervals and 95% confidence intervals are presented as %. OP: oropharyngeal swab; CP-SP: chest physiotherapy session followed by a provoked cough to obtain sputum; CP-OP: second oropharyngeal swab collected after chest physiotherapy. #: confidence interval outside −10% to +10% (i.e. 90% CI) or −5% to +5% (i.e. 95% CI) signifying that the methods are not equivalent. p<0.05 indicates statistical significance.