Publication Date:
2015-05-13
Description:
The diagnosis of smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis remains a clinical challenge. Many studies suggest that nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) on bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) plays a role in diagnosing smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis, but with considerable varying results. The current study aimed to summarize the overall diagnostic accuracy of NAATs assay on BALF for smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis. A systematic literature search was performed and data were retrieved. Pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were calculated. A summary receiver operating characteristic curve and area under curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the overall diagnostic performance. All the statistical analysis was performed by using STATA 12.0 and Meta-DiSc 1.4 software. A total of nine studies with 1,214 subjects were included this meta-analysis.The pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, and DOR were 0.54 (95%CI: 0.48–0.59), 0.97 (95%CI: 0.95–0.98), 12.13 (95% CI: 8.23-17.88), 0.36 (95% CI: 0.23-0.56), and 44.71 (95%CI: 22.30–89.63), respectively. The AUC was 0.96. Estimated positive and negative post-probability values for asmear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis prevalence of 20% were 82% and 7%, respectively. No publication bias was identified. Current available evidence indicated that NAATs on BALF may play a role in diagnosing smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis, while the results should be interpreted in parallel with clinical information of patients and the results of traditional tests. Further studies should be performed to confirm our findings.
Print ISSN:
0144-8463
Electronic ISSN:
1573-4935
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
