Table 2.

Subgroup analysis of the included studies

Variables	Number of studies	Sensitivity (95% CI)	Specificity (95% CI)	Likelihood ratio+	Likelihood ratio‐	AUROC (95% CI)	Diagnostic OR (95% CI)	I 2 (95% CI)	Publication bias (Egger’s test P)
Procalcitonin
Overall analysis 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17	6	0·84 (0·75–0·90)	0·64 (0·58–0·69)	2·31 (1·93–2·78)	0·26 (0·17–0·40)	0·68 (0·64–0·72)	8·55 (5·04–14·5)	0·0 (0·0–74·62)	0·518
ICU 13 , 14 , 16	3	0·91 (0·82–0·97)	0·62 (0·52–0·72)	2·53 (1·90–3·30)	0·14 (0·06–0·31)	0·73 (0·50–0·99)	17·9 (6·98–45·8)	0·0 (0·0–84·69)	0·311
MDI 12 , 13 , 14	3	0·89 (0·77–0·92)	0·61 (0·53–0·67)	2·30 (1·82–2·93)	0·23 (0·14–0·39)	0·79 (0·49–0·99)	9·93 (3·49–28·3)	46·1 (0·0–84·1)	0·518

ICU, intensive care unit; MDI, microbiologically documented infection.