Table 1.
Factors affecting performance of tuberculosis screening tests
| Author-year/country | Patients (N) | Disease | Association with TST | RoB | ||
| BCG | GC | csDMARDs | ||||
| Ruan et al17 2016/NA* | 1940 | AΙΙRD | Positive OR: 1.64 (95% CI 1.06 to 2.53) |
Negative OR 0.45 (95% CI 0.30 to 0.69) |
– | High quality |
| Reitblat et al24 2018/Israel | 65 | RA | – | No | No | 7 |
| Agarwal et al23 2014/USA | 250 | RA | – | Negative (mean dose†: 6.4), (p=0.002) |
No | 7 |
| Hsia et al13 2012/multinational | 2303 | IA | Positive (p<0.0002 vs IGRA) |
– | – | 7 |
| Klein et al18 2013/Czech | 305 | AIIRD | – | Negative, (p=0.0172) | Negative (combination with GC) (p=0.0003) | 6 |
| Belard et al 22 2011/Denmark | 248 | AIIRD‡ | – | Negative (p=0.018) | – | 6 |
| Soborg et al20 2009/Denmark | 302 | IA | – | Negative RR 0.4 (95% CI 0.1 to 1.0), (p=0.04) |
– | 6 |
| Tamborenea et al21 2009/Argentina | 105 | RA | – | Negative (mean dose: 6 mg/day), OR 0.72 (95% CI 0.55 to 0.95), p=0.021 |
– | 6 |
| Vassilopoulos et al15 2008/Greece | 70 | AIIRD | Positive§ | Negative (mean dose: 6.8 mg)¶ | – | 6 |
| Arias-Guillen et al26 2018/Spain | 393 | IA | – | – | Positive (MTX) OR 2.15 (95% CI 1.05 to 4.44) |
5 |
| Maeda et al14 2011/Japan | 97 | RA | Positive (14/19 false-positive TST) |
– | – | 5 |
| Sargin et al25 2018/Turkey | 109 | IA | – | No | – | 4 |
| Lee et al16 2012/South Korea | 81 | RA | No | – | – | 4 |
| Lee et al16 2012/South Korea | 81 | RA | – | No | No | 4 |
| Author-year/country | Patients (N) | Disease | Association** with IGRA | RoB |
| Ruan et al17 2016/NA | 1940 | AIIRD | No (GC, csDMARDs) | High quality |
| Vassilopoulos et al55 2011/Greece | 155 | AIIRD | Negative (GC, mean GC dose: 6.8 mg), (OR=0.31 95% CI 0.1 to 0.96; p=0.04) | 6 |
| Belard 2011 et al22 /Dennmark | 248 | AIIRD‡ | With indeterminate IGRA (GC), OR=6.1 95% CI 4.1 to 63.2; p<0.001) | 6 |
| Soborg et al20 2009/Denmark | 302 | IA | With indeterminate IGRA (GC), RR 4.2 (95% CI 1.6 to 10.7, p=0.04) | 6 |
| Arias-Guillen et al26 2018/Spain | 393 | IA | No (MTX) | 5 |
| Maeda et al14 2011/Japan | 97 | RA | No (GC, (mean dose prednisolone: 5.7 mg), MTX) | 5 |
| Shovman et al31 2009/Israel | 35 | RA | No (GC, (mean dose prednisolone: 8.3 mg), MTX) | 5 |
| Matulis et al30 2008/UK | 142 | IMID | No (GC, csDMARDs) | 5 |
*Meta-analysis.
†GC dose: prednisolone or equivalent.
‡93/244 patients had inflammatory bowel disease.
§BCG associated with TST-positive/IGRA-negative discordant status (p=0.01).
¶Associated with TST-negative/IGRA-positive discordant status (p=0.04).
**Association of GC or csDMARDs with IGRA.
AIIRD, autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic disease; csDMARDs, conventional synthetic DMARD; DMARDs, disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs; GC, glucocorticoids; IA, inflammatory arthritis; IGRA, interferon releasee gamma assay; IMID, immune mediated disease; MTX, methotrexate; NA, not available; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; RoB, risk of bias; RR, risk ratio; TST, tuberculin skin test.