Table 1. Characteristics of the included studies.
| Author Year | Country (Income class) | Recruitment | Study design | Acid-fast stain | Specimen preparation for Cobas TaqMan | Culture | TB confirmation | Respiratory specimen | Non-respiratory specimen | Specimen number |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antonenka 2013 | Germany (A) | Specimen bank | R, F, I | AR | NALC-NaOH | MGIT, LJ | Genotype CM, Genotype MTBC | sp, ba | R 116 NR 0 | |
| Bloemberg 2013 | Switzerland (A) | Tertiary care diagnostic center | P, I | AR, ZN | NALC-NaOH | MGIT, 7H11 | 16SrRNA | sp, bal, ba, other | ti, ur, csf, ln, as, ab | R 829 NR 280 |
| Causse 2011 | Spain (A) | ? | AR | NALC-NaOH | 7H9, LJ, liquid medium | ? | csf, pf, ar, as, ln, ti, gf | R 0 NR 340 | ||
| Chandran 2010 | India (C) | Tb Control Program | Short article | ? | NALC-NaOH | LJ | Genotype MTBC | sp | R 72 NR 0 | |
| Cho 2015 | Korea (A) | University hospital | I | ? | NALC-NaOH | 2%Ogawa, MGIT | multiplex PCR | sp, ba, bl, bal, ts | pus, pf, csf, ur, ti, ab | R 2384 NR 626 |
| Choi 2013 | Korea (A) | ? | F, Korean, #1 | AR, ZN | NALC-NaOH | MGIT, 3%Ogawa | Seeplex | sp, bal | R 619 NR 0 | |
| Huh 2015 | Korea (A) | Tertiary care hospital | R #2 | AR, ZN | NALC-NaOH (2%) | Liquid, solid medium | cordF, MPT64, MTB-ID V3 | ? | R 6772 NR 0 | |
| Ikegame 2012 | Japan (A) | ? | R | AR | NaOH | ? | ? | sp, bal, bl | R 1745 NR 0 | |
| Jönsson 2015 | Sweden (A) | University hospital laboratory | R, I | ? | NALC-NaOH | LJ, MGIT | AccuProbe, 16SrRNA GenoType MTBC, | sp, bal, bl | bf, ti, ur, gf, csf | R 2388 NR 1005 |
| Kim JH 2011 | Korea (A) | Tertiary care hospital | P, I, #2 | ZN | NALC-NaOH | 3%Ogawa | Amplicor, history | sp, bal, pf | ar, as, bf, ti | R 92 NR 0 |
| Kim JW 2013 | Korea (A) | ? | F, #1 | ? | NALC-NaOH | MGIT | PCR assay Smear | bal, ba, sp | ab, csf, ar, as, pf, ti, ur | R 360 NR 65 |
| Lee 2013 | Taiwan (B) | University hospital & General hospital | P, I | AR, Ki | NALC-NaOH | MGIT, LJ | Middlebrook7H11 | sp | R 586 NR 0 | |
| Lim 2014 | Korea (A) | University hospital | P, B | ZN | NALC-NaOH (4%) | 3%Ogawa | ? | sp, bal | R 1167 NR 0 | |
| Linasmita 2012 | Thailand (B) | University hospital | P, I | ? | QIAGEN | MGIT | ? | cervical ln | R 0 NR 73 | |
| Park 2013 | Korea (A) | Terciary care hospital | P, B, #2 | AR,ZN | NALC-NaOH (2%) | MGIT, 3%Ogawa | cord F, conventional PCR MPT64, MTB-ID V3, | sp, bal | R 320 NR 0 | |
| Tortoli 2012 | Italy (A) | Reference center laboratory | R | AR | NALC-NaOH (1%) | MGIT, LJ | GenoType, 16SrRNA | bl, gf, sp | ti, bf, csf, pf, ab, ur | R 4340 NR 1727 |
| Yang 2011 | Taiwan (B) | University hospital laboratory | P | AR, Ki | NALC-NaOH | LJ, MGIT, 7H11 | MPT64, GenoType, Mycobacterium CM assay | su, ba, bal | R 1093 NR 0 |
Income class: The World Bank income classification. A, high-income economy; B, upper-middle-income economy; C, lower-middle-income economy; D, low-income economy. Taiwan was classified as China for this table.
Study design: P, prospective study; R, retrospective study; F, using frozen specimen; B, TaqMan MTB was conducted blindly; I, invalid rate was reported; if these information was not provided, left blank. Short article and non-English article were also mentioned. #1, Choi and Kim JW used data from same hospital in different time. #2, Huh, Kim JH, and Park used data from same hospital in different time.
Acid-fast stain: ZN, Ziehl-Neelsen; AR, auramine-rhodamine; Ki, Kinyoun.
Specimen preparation for Cobas TaqMan: NALC-NaOH, N-acetyl-l-cysteine with sodium hydroxide; NaOH, sodium hydroxide.
Culture: MGIT, Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube; LJ, Löwenstein-Jensen; 7H9, Middlebrook 7H9 Broth; 7H10/11, Middlebrook 7H10/11 Agar; BacT/A, BacT/Alert.
Tb confirmation: 16SrRNA, 16S rRNA gene sequence; cordF, cord formation.
Respiratory specimen: sp, sputum; ba, broncheal/tracheal aspirate; bl, broncheal/tracheal lavage; bal, bronchialalveolar lavage; gf, gastric fluid; ts, throat swab.
Non-respiratory specimen: ln, lymph node; pf, pleural fluid; ar, articular fluid; as, ascite fluid; ab, abcess/pus; ur, urine; csf, cerebrospinal fluid; bf, body fluid; bl, blood; gf, gastric fluid; ti, other tissue sample.
Specimen number: R, number of the respiratory specimens; NR, number of the non-respiratory specimens.