Table 1. Characteristics of included studies.
| Study | Country (income class) | Design | Facility | Decontamination | Stain | Culture | LAMP assay (targeted nucleic acid) | Specimen | Culture+/total | High quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aryan8 | Iran (B) | pCohort | A university hospital | NALC-NaOH | ZN | LJ | In-house (IS6110) | Sp | 74/101 | Yes |
| Boehme9 | Peru (B), Bangladesh (C), Tanzania(D) | Centers | 1.5%NALC-NaOH | ZN | LJ | In-house (gyrB) | Sp | 220/725 | Yes | |
| Dolker10 | India (C) | Cohort | A Tb hospital | ZN | LJ | In-house (IS6110) | Sp | 198/261 | Yes | |
| FINDa11 | Peru (B), South Africa (B), Vietnam (C), Brazil (B) | Cohort, CR, # | DOT centers, TB clinics, a tertiary hospital | NaLC-NaOH | MGIT | Loopamp MTBC | Sp | 440/1060 | No | |
| FINDb11 | India (C), Uganda, Peru (B) | Cohort, CR, # | Hospitals, TB labs, microscopic centers | NaLC-NaOH | MGIT, LJ | Loopamp MTBC | Sp | 392/1741 | No | |
| FINDc11 | India (C) | pCohort, CR, # | Clinics | NaLC-NaOH | MGIT, LJ | Loopamp MTBC | Sp | 46/417 | No | |
| Fujisaki12 | Japan (A) | pCohort, Jpn, # | A university hospital | NALC-NaOH | Ogawa | In-house (16S rRNA) | Sp | 5/10 | Yes | |
| George13 | India (C) | pCohort | A college hospital | NALC-NaOH | AR | LJ, MGIT | In-house (rimM) | Sp | 39/71 | No |
| Hong14 | China (B) | Cohort, # | A Tb hospital | NALC-NaOH | In-house (esat6, mtp40) | Sp | 13/40 | Yes | ||
| Iwamoto15 | Japan (A) | Cohort | Community hospitals | NALC-NaOH | Loopamp MTBC | Sp | 20/66 | Yes | ||
| Joon16 | India (C) | Cohort, # | A laboratory | ZN | MGIT | In-house (sdaA) | EP | 30/315 | Yes | |
| Kaewphinit17 | Thailand (B) | Cohort | A Tb laboratory | NALC-NaOH | LJ | In-house (IS6100) | Sp | 93/101 | Yes | |
| Kobayashi18 | Japan (A) | Cohort, Jpn, # | A 2ndary referral hospital | NALC-NaOH | AR | Bact/ALERT, Ogawa, Kudo | Loopamp MTBC | Sp | 25/161 | Yes |
| Kohan19 | Iran (B) | Cohort | A Tb center | 4%NaOh | ZN | LJ | In-house (IS6110) | Sp | 60/133 | Yes |
| Lee20 | Taiwan (A) | Cohort | A university hospital | NaOH | In-house (16S rDNA) | Sp | 34/150 | Yes | ||
| Li21 | China (B) | Cohort | A Tb Cenber | 4%NaOH | ZN | LJ | In-house real-time (IS6011) | Sp | 333/1067 | Yes |
| Miller22 | Zambia (C) | pCohort, CR | A chest clinic | NALC-NaOH | MGIT | In-house | Sp | 67/134 | Yes | |
| Mitarai23 | Japan (A) | pCohort | A Tb hospital | NALC-NaOH | AR | 2%Ogawa | Loopamp MTBC | Sp | 223/320 | Yes |
| Moon 24 | Korea (A) | Cohort | A university hospital | 2%NALC-NaOH | ZN, AR | 2%Ogawa | In-house (hspX) | Sp | 35/303 | Yes |
| Nimesh25 | India (C) | rCohort, # | A hospital | In-house (sdaA) | Sp | 18/236 | Yes | |||
| Ou26 | China (B) | Cohort | Microscopy centers | ZN | LJ | Loopamp MTBC | Sp | 375/1329 | Yes | |
| Poudel27 | Nepal (D) | Case-control | A Tb center | 2%NALC-NaOH | AR | 2%Ogawa | In-house (16S rRNA) | Sp | 100/202 | No |
| Rafati28 | Iran (B) | # | In-house (16S rDNR) | Sp | 10/50 | Yes | ||||
| Saito29 | Japan (A) | Cohort, CR | Loopamp MTBC | Sp | 25/161 | Yes | ||||
| Sethi30 | India (C) | Cohort | A chest clinic | NALC-NaOH | ZN | LJ, MGIT | In-house (16s rRNA) | Sp | 78/103 | Yes |
| Thiong’o31 | Kenya (C) | Thesis | NaOH | LJ | In-house (IS6110) | Sp | 138/360 | No | ||
| Watari32 | Japan (A) | CR, Jap | NALC-NaOH | Loopamp MTBC | Sp | 8/28 | Yes |
<Study> FIND: the Foundation for Innovative New diagnostics. <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. <Design> pCohort: prospective cohort. rCohort: retrospective cohort. CR: conference report. Jpn: written in Japanese language. #: studies where only one sputum specimen was obtained per individual. These studies were used for analysis G (see Table 2, Fig. 3). <Decontamination> NALC-NaOH, N-acetyl-l-cysteine with sodium hydroxide; NaOH, sodium hydroxide. <Acid-fast stain>: ZN, Ziehl-Neelsen; AR, auramine-rhodamine. <Culture> MGIT, Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube; LJ, Löwenstein-Jensen. <LAMP assay> Loopamp MTBC: Loopamp MTBC Detection Kit targeting gyrB DNA and IS6110 DNA manufactured by EIKEN CHEMICAL CO., LTD. Eiken: Eiken Chemical Co., Ltd. (Tochigi, Japan), LAMP kit targeting gyrB DNA and IS6110 DNA. <Specimen> Sp: sputum, EP: extra-pulmonary specimen.