Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29617458›Full record

ArticlePloS one2018

Performance of QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus for detection of latent tuberculosis infection in pregnant women living in a tuberculosis- and HIV-endemic setting.

John König Walles, Fregenet Tesfaye, Marianne Jansson, Taye Tolera Balcha, Niclas Winqvist, Mestawet Kefeni, Sileshi Garoma Abeya, Feleke Belachew, Erik Sturegård, Per Björkman

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
26citing papers in PubMed
3.3field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
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

26 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Effects of Pregnancy and Isoniazid Preventive Therapy on Mycobacterium tuberculosis Interferon Gamma Response Assays in Women With HIV.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2021
    Trial
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Discordance of 3rd and 4th generation QuantiFERON-TB Gold assays by pregnancy stages in India.Journal of clinical tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases · 2025
    Article
  5. DiminishedOpen forum infectious diseases · 2025
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Tuberculosis Infection in Women of Reproductive Age: A Cross-sectional Study at Antenatal Care Clinics in an Ethiopian City.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2021
    Article
  18. Article
  19. Phenotype Definition for "Resisters" toFrontiers in immunology · 2021
    Review
  20. Longitudinal Variations ofFrontiers in immunology · 2021
    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

10 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

John König WallesClinical Infection Medicine, Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0002-3445-7741
Fregenet TesfayeClinical Infection Medicine, Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Marianne JanssonMedical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Taye Tolera BalchaClinical Infection Medicine, Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Niclas WinqvistClinical Infection Medicine, Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Mestawet KefeniAdama Regional Laboratory, Adama, Ethiopia.
Sileshi Garoma AbeyaAdama Hospital Medical College, Adama, Ethiopia.
Feleke BelachewAdama Regional Laboratory, Adama, Ethiopia.
Erik SturegårdClinical Infection Medicine, Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Per BjörkmanClinical Infection Medicine, Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Lund University · SEAdama Science and Technology University · ET

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We evaluated the performance of QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus), which includes two Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen formulations (TB1 and TB2), for detection of latent tuberculosis infection during pregnancy. Eight-hundred-twenty-nine Ethiopian pregnant women (5.9% HIV-positive) were tested with QFT-Plus, with bacteriological sputum analysis performed for women with clinically suspected tuberculosis and HIV-positive women irrespective of clinical presentation. QFT-Plus read-out was categorized according to the conventional cut-off (0.35 IU/ml) for both antigen formulations. In addition, we analysed the distribution of QFT-Plus results within a borderline zone (0.20-0.70 IU/ml), and interferon-γ response in relation to HIV infection and gestational age. Two-hundred-seventy-seven women (33%) were QFT-Plus-positive (HIV-positive 16/49 [33%]; HIV-negative 261/780 [33%]). There was a strong agreement between the two antigen formulations (κ = 0.92), with discordant results in 29 cases (3.5%). Whereas discordant QFT-Plus results were rare in pregnancy, several results with both TB1 and TB2 within the borderline range were observed (11/49 [22%] vs. 43/780 [5.5%] in HIV-positive and HIV-negative women, respectively; p<0.0001). HIV-positive women had lower absolute interferon-γ levels (TB1: 0.47 vs. 2.16 IU/ml; p<0.001, TB2: 0.49 vs. 2.24 IU/ml, p<0.001, considering results ≥0.20 IU/ml) compared to HIV-negative women. QFT-Plus-positive women who submitted samples at later stages of pregnancy had lower mitogen- (p<0.001) but higher TB-antigen-specific (p = 0.031 for TB1, p = 0.061 for TB2) interferon-γ response. Considering their lower capacity to produce TB-specific interferon-γ, a lower cut-off level for defining QFT-Plus-positivity may be considered in HIV-positive pregnant women.

Indexed as

AdultEthiopiaFemaleHIVHIV InfectionsHumansInterferon-gammaInterferon-gamma Release TestsLatent TuberculosisMycobacterium tuberculosisPregnancyPregnancy Complications, InfectiousTuberculin TestYoung AdultInterferon-gamma

Identifiers

PMID29617458
PMCPMC5884484
OpenAlexW2795735655

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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.