Meta-analysis of the diagnostic value of GeneXpert MTB/RIF on gastric aspirate specimens for pediatric tuberculosis

Ma Hongrui; Wang Xiaoyan; Zhou Zheng

doi:10.11986/j.issn.1673-873X.2024.S2.08

Abstract：Objective To systematically evaluate the diagnostic value of GeneXpert MTB/RIF for detecting tuberculosis(TB)in gastric aspirate specimens from pediatric patients through a meta-analysis.Methods Databases including Wanfang,VIP,CNKI,PubMed,Embase,and the Cochrane Library were searched from January 2012 to the present for studies on the diag-nostic value of GeneXpert MTB/RIF in gastric aspirate specimens for pediatric TB.The quality of the included studies,het-erogeneity,pooled effect sizes,receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves,and subgroup analyses were conducted.Sen-sitivity,specificity,positive likelihood ratio,negative likelihood ratio,and area under the curve(AUC)were statistically an-alyzed using Metadisc and Stata 12.0 software.Results A total of 13 studies were included,comprising 20 data sets.The combined sensitivity of GeneXpert MTB/RIF for diagnosing pediatric TB was 0.72(95%CI:0.69-0.74),and the com-bined specificity was 0.95(95%CI:0.94-0.96).The positive likelihood ratio was 17.37(95%CI:8.73-34.55),and the negative likelihood ratio was 0.21(95%CI:0.13-0.33).The pooled sensitivity was 0.69(95%CI:0.60-0.76)and the pooled specificity was 0.99(95%CI:0.97-1.00)in school-aged children.Conclusion Existing literature indicates that GeneXpert MTB/RIF testing of gastric aspirate specimens has high sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing pediatric TB.This method is particularly suitable for diagnosing TB in school-age children.