SynthesisBMC infectious diseases2016
Smear positivity in paediatric and adult tuberculosis: systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMC infectious diseases, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
58 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra assay for tuberculosis disease and rifampicin resistance in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Low-complexity manual nucleic acid amplification tests for pulmonary tuberculosis in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Parallel use of low-complexity automated nucleic acid amplification tests on respiratory and stool samples with or without lateral flow lipoarabinomannan assays to detect pulmonary tuberculosis disease in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra assay for tuberculosis disease and rifampicin resistance in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Value of Xpert MTB/RIF Using Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid for the Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2021Pooled it
- Xpert MTB/RIF and Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra assays for active tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Risk of progression to pulmonary tuberculosis among household contacts with chest radiographic abnormalities in South Africa.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Blinded trial of multiplex serodiagnostic test in India for diverse forms of active tuberculosis.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Miliary tuberculosis with diagnostic challenges in infancy: a case report from Vietnam.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2026Article
- Antigen heterogeneity in the development and clinical validation of a multiplexed urine test for tuberculosis.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Lateral-flow urine lipoarabinomannan for TB diagnosis in children.IJTLD open · 2026Article
- Tuberculosis outbreak in a German daycare center.Infection · 2026Article
- Tuberculosis Diagnostic Methods: Clinical Applicability, Implementation Challenges, and Integrated Testing Strategies.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Clinical and imaging features in the differentiation of pediatric pulmonary tuberculosis and pneumonia.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
- GeneXpert MTB/RIF Ultra in Pediatric Tuberculosis: How Disease Characteristics Modify Test Performances.Current pediatric reviews · 2026Article
- A streamlined CRISPR-based test for tuberculosis detection directly from sputum.Science advances · 2025Article
- Article
- Applicability of TB-LAMP test for diagnosis of pulmonary TB among HIV-positive individuals.IJTLD open · 2025Article
- Pathological subtypes and sampling strategies determine diagnostic sensitivity in cervical lymph node tuberculosis: a retrospective study.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Article
- High prevalence and risk factors of positive sputum smear in newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Vietnam.Le infezioni in medicina · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTuberculosis (TB) diagnosis continues to rely on sputum smear microscopy in many settings. We conducted a meta-analysis to estimate the percentage of children and adults with tuberculosis that are sputum smear positive.
methodsWe searched PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, and Global Health databases for studies that included both children and adults with all forms of active TB. The pooled percentages of children and adults with smear positive TB were estimated using the inverse variance heterogeneity model. This review was registered in the PROSPERO database under registration number CRD42015015331.
resultsWe identified 20 studies meeting our inclusion criteria that reported smear positivity for a total of 18,316 children and 162,574 adults from 14 countries. The pooled percentage of paediatric TB cases that were sputum smear positive was 6.8 % (95 % Confidence Interval (CI) 2.2-12.2 %), compared with 52.0 % (95 % CI 40.0-64.0 %) among adult cases. Eight studies reported data separately for children aged 0-4 and 5-14. The percentage of children aged 0-4 that were smear positive was 0.5 % (95 % CI 0.0-1.9 %), compared with 14.0 % (95 % CI 8.9-19.4 %) among children aged 5-14.
conclusionsChildren, especially those aged 0-4, are much less likely to be sputum smear positive than adults. National TB programs relying on sputum smear for diagnosis are at risk of under-diagnosing and underestimating the burden of TB in children.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.