Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22771604›Full record

ReviewThe Indian journal of medical research2012

Serological tests for the diagnosis of active tuberculosis: relevance for India.

Karen R Steingart, Andrew Ramsay, David W Dowdy, Madhukar Pai

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in The Indian journal of medical research, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

23 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. A case for eliminating Widal testing for enteric fever, India.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2026
    Article
  2. Review
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Antibodies as clinical tools for tuberculosis.Frontiers in immunology · 2023
    Review
  6. Review
  7. Nontubercular mycobacterial cough.BMJ case reports · 2022
    Article
  8. Machine learning analysis of SERS fingerprinting for the rapid determination ofComputational and structural biotechnology journal · 2022
    Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Tuberculosis in South Asia: a tide in the affairs of men.Multidisciplinary respiratory medicine · 2018
    Review
  12. Molecular Diagnosis of Tuberculosis.Chonnam medical journal · 2018
    Review
  13. Article
  14. Genital tuberculosis in females.The Indian journal of medical research · 2017
    Review
  15. Article
  16. Laboratory Diagnosis of Central Nervous System Infection.Current infectious disease reports · 2016
    Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. A multicenter clinical evaluation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis IgG/IgM antibody detection using the colloidal gold method.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2014
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Karen R SteingartDepartment of Health Services, University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle, WA 98195-7660, USA. karenst@uw.edu
Andrew Ramsay
David W Dowdy
Madhukar Pai

Funding

Canadian Institutes of Health Research
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Diagnostic tests for active tuberculosis (TB) based on the detection of antibodies (serological tests) have been commercially available for decades, although no international guidelines have recommended their use. An estimated 1.5 million serological TB tests, mainly enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, are performed in India alone every year, mostly in the private sector. The cost of serological tests in India is conservatively estimated at US $15 million (`825 million) per year. Findings from systematic reviews on the diagnostic accuracy of serological tests for both pulmonary and extra-pulmonary TB suggest that these tests are inaccurate and imprecise. A cost-effectiveness modelling study suggests that, if used as a replacement test for sputum microscopy, serology would increase costs to the Indian TB control sector approximately 4-fold and result in fewer disability-adjusted life years averted and more false-positive diagnoses. After considering all available evidence, the World Health Organization issued a strong recommendation against the use of currently available commercial serological tests for the diagnosis of TB disease. The expanding evidence base continues to demonstrate that the harms/risks of serological tests far outweigh the benefits. Greater engagement of the private sector is needed to discontinue the use of serological tests and to replace these tests with WHO-endorsed new diagnostics in India. The recent ban on import or sale of TB serological tests by the Indian health ministry is a welcome step in the right direction.

Indexed as

Serologic TestsAntibodies, BacterialCost-Benefit AnalysisHumansIndiaMycobacterium tuberculosisSensitivity and SpecificitySputumTuberculosis, PulmonaryWorld Health OrganizationAntibodies, Bacterial

Identifiers

PMID22771604
PMCPMC3401705

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-SA
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.