Table 2. Focus of tuberculosis systematic reviews.
| Category and subdivision | TB research focus | Proportion (%) |
| Aetiology: 28 of N = 141 a (19.9%) | ||
| Biological and endogenous risk factors | Genetic susceptibility/gene targets; risk factors for MDR-TB; vitamin D receptor | 11/28 (39.3) |
| Factors relating to the physical environment | Travel risk and LTBI; nosocomial exposure to TB | 5/28 (17.9) |
| Socio-economic risk factors | Risk of TB transmission | 1/28 (3.6) |
| Surveillance and distribution | TB/HIV; MDRTB and HIV; diabetes and TB | 11/28 (39.3) |
| Prevention of disease and conditions, and promotion of well-being: 17 of N = 141 (12.1%) | ||
| Intervention to modify risk behaviours and lifestyles | Tobacco | 3/17 (17.6) |
| Alcohol | 2/17 (11.8) | |
| Diet/BMI | 1/17 (5.9) | |
| Interventions to alter physical and biological environment | Air pollutant | 1/17 (5.9) |
| Nutrition and chemoprevention | Isoniazid Preventive Therapy in MDRTB | 2/17 (11.8) |
| Vaccines | 5/17 (29.4) | |
| Detection, screening and diagnosis: 46 of N = 141 (32.6%) | ||
| Discovery and preclinical testing of technologies | Non-pulmonary TB | 1/46 (2.2) |
| Evaluation of markers and technologies | Bacteriological TB diagnostic tests | 17/46 (37.0) |
| Bacteriological MDRTB diagnostic tests | 9/46 (19.6) | |
| Immunological diagnostics | 9/46 (19.6) | |
| LTBI diagnostic tests | 3/46 (6.5) | |
| Population surveillance | Active case finding TB, TB/HIV | 3/46 (6.5) |
| TB screening | 1/46 (2.2) | |
| Development and evaluation of treatments and therapeutic interventions b : 33 of N = 141 (23.4%) | ||
| Pharmaceuticals | Drug-resistant TB | 10/33 (30.3) |
| TB treatment | 9/33 (27.3) | |
| LTBI treatment | 6/33 (18.2) | |
| TB/HIV treatment | 3/33 (9.1) | |
| Surgery | Spinal TB | 1/33 (3.0) |
| Radiotherapy | Laser therapy for TB | 1/33 (3.0) |
| Management of diseases/condition: 14 of N = 141 (9.9%) | ||
| Individual care needs, secondary disease prevention | TB treatment adherence; reminder systems for LTBI treatment | 7/14 (50.0) |
| Organization and delivery of programs, and factors affecting quality of care | DOT program evaluation; cost-benefit analysis of TB health services; evaluating quality of care | 7/14 (50.0) |
a
Denominator N = 141 represents the total number of research focuses identified by all the included reviews. In this case N is greater than the 137 number of included systematic reviews because some reviews had a research focus captured by more than one category.
b
Categories 5 and 6 of Table 1 were merged. Note: Cells do not equal 100% because the subdivisions “Other” in “Prevention of diseases and conditions”, “Detection, screening, and diagnosis”, and “Development and evaluation of treatments” were omitted. There was no SR on “Underpinning research” and “Health and social services research.”