Table 3. Subgroup analysis for different types of tuberculosis compared with a composite reference standard.
| TB type | Specimen type | No. of studies | No. of specimens | Sensitivity (95% CI) | Specificity (95% CI) | PPV (95% CI) | NPV (95% CI) | DOR (95% CI) | AUC (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulmonary TB | Plasma | 3 | 252 | 78% (70–84%) | 97% (93–99%) | 99% (97–100%) | 82% (62–100%) | 29 (10–85) | 0.99 (0.97–1.00) |
| Extrapulmonary TB | All | 9 | 929 | 65% (61–69%) | 99% (96–100%) | 100% (100–100%) | 59% (38–80%) | 61 (20–185) | 0.98 (0.93–1.00) |
| Plasma | 3 | 212 | 78% (68–86%) | 97% (93–99%) | 99% (96–100%) | 87% (72–100%) | 35 (10–115) | 0.99 (0.97–1.00) | |
| Non-plasma | 6 | 717 | 63% (59–67%) | 99% (97–100%) | 100% (100–100%) | 45% (35–54%) | 97 (15–615) | 0.82 (0.78–0.85) | |
| Pleural effusion (Tuberculosis pleurisy) | 3 | 500 | 68% (64–73%) | 100% (97–100%) | 100% (100–100%) | 49% (43–55%) | 54 (11–268) | 0.90 (0.35–1.00) | |
| Cerebrospinal fluid (Tuberculosis meningitis) | 2 | 152 | 55% (45–64%) | 100% (92–100%) | 100% (98–100%) | 49% (39–59%) | 26 (4–184) | 0.77 (0.70–0.84) | |
| Ascitic fluid (Abdominal tuberculosis) | 1 | 65 | 40% (27–54%) | 90% (56–100%) | 96% (87–100%) | 21% (9–34%) | 4 (1–26) | 0.65 (0.52–0.76) |
TB, tuberculosis; PPV, positive predictive value; NPV, negative predictive value; DOR, diagnostic odds ratio, AUC, the area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve.