Table 2.

 Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive and negative predictive values for all peptides. Values in brackets are pooled 95% confidence intervals or range*

Natriuretic peptide (threshold)	No of studies	No	No of cases	Sensitivity %	Specificity %	Positive predictive value	Negative predictive value	I2 (%)
B type natriuretic peptide:
≤100 ng/L	19	6950	3049	0.95 (0.93 to 0.96)	0.63 (0.52 to 0.73)	0.67 (0.63 to 0.75)	0.94 (0.90 to 0.96)	98
100-500 ng/L	20	4543	2160	0.85 (0.81 to 0.88)	0.86 (0.79 to 0.91)	0.85 (0.78 to 0.90)	0.86 (0.82 to 0.89)	97
≥500 ng/L	4	283	145	0.35 (0.17-0.56) to 0.83 (0.69-0.92)*	0.78 (0.56-0.93) to 1.00 (0.91-1.00)*	0.89 (0.75-0.96) to 1.0 (0.63-1.0)*	0.55 (0.69-0.80) to 0.69 (0.48-0.84)*	—
N terminal probrain natriuretic peptide:
≤300 ng/L	10	3349	1695	0.99 (0.97 to 1.00)	0.43 (0.26 to 0.62)	0.64 (0.57 to 0.73)	0.98 (0.89 to 1.0)	94
300-1800 ng/L	13	3223	1652	0.90 (0.86 to 0.93)	0.76 (0.69 to 0.82)	0.80 (0.74 to 0.84)	0.88 (0.82 to 0.92)	97
≥1800 ng/L	3	840	444	0.67 (0.60-0.73) to 0.87 (0.81-0.92)*	0.72 (0.63-0.80) to 0.95 (0.91-0.98)*	0.80 (0.73-0.86) to 0.94 (0.89-0.97)*	0.71 (0.65-0.76) to 0.82 (0.73-0.89)*	—
Mid-regional proatrial natriuretic peptide:
≤120 pmol/L	2	1892	705	0.95 (0.90-0.98) to 0.97 (0.95-0.98)*	0.56 (0.47-0.65) to 0.60 (0.57-0.63)*	0.56 (0.53-0.59) to 0.72 (0.65-0.79)*	0.90 (0.80-0.96) to 0.97 (0.96-0.98)*	—
>120 pmol/L	3	916	406	0.84 (0.77-0.89) to 0.98 (0.94-1.00)*	0.40 (0.34-0.46) to 0.84 (0.77-0.90)*	0.41 (0.35-0.47) to 0.86 (0.79-0.91)*	0.82 (0.74-0.88) to 0.98 (0.93-1.00)*	—

*A sensitivity or specificity range is given where there were insufficient number of studies to conduct diagnostic meta-analysis and generate a pooled sensitivity and specificity value. Table 1 shows the setting of each study and assay used.