SynthesisInfection2019
Use of steroids for abdominal tuberculosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Infection, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gastrointestinal tuberculosis: A systematic review of epidemiology, presentation, diagnosis and treatment.Saudi journal of gastroenterology : official journal of the Saudi Gastroenterology AssociationPooled it
- An Integrated Review of Conventional and Emerging Diagnostic and Therapeutic Modalities to Reduce the Risk of Surgical Resections in Intestinal Tuberculosis.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- [Abdominal tuberculosis: a 13-year experience].The Pan African medical journal · 2025Article
- Significance of Epidemiological Background in Preventing the Misdiagnosis of Intestinal Tuberculosis as Crohn's Disease.Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) · 2024Article
- Article
- Paralytic Ileus during Treatment of Pulmonary and Renal Tuberculosis in a Non-Human Immunodeficiency Virus Patient: An Unusual Presentation of Tuberculosis-immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome.Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) · 2023Article
- Evidence-based approach to diagnosis and management of abdominal tuberculosis.Indian journal of gastroenterology : official journal of the Indian Society of Gastroenterology · 2023Review
- Article
- Abdominal Tuberculosis Mimicking Ovarian Cancer: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.International medical case reports journal · 2022Article
- Corticosteroids for COVID-19 Therapy: Potential Implications on Tuberculosis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Corticosteroid therapy for the management of paradoxical inflammatory reaction in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.Infection · 2020Article
- Gastrointestinal Bleeding in a Patient With Gastric Lymphoma, Tuberculosis Enteritis, and Cytomegalovirus Enteritis.ACG case reports journal · 2020Article
- Young Male Presenting with an Acute Diarrheal Illness with Unexplained Transudative Ascites: An Atypical Presentation of Appendicular Tuberculosis.Case reports in infectious diseases · 2020Article
- Abdominal tuberculosis with a Pseudo-Sister Mary Joseph nodule mimicking peritoneal carcinomatosis.BMJ case reports · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe role of adjunctive steroids in abdominal tuberculosis is unclear.
objectiveTo evaluate effect of adjunctive use of steroids for abdominal tuberculosis in reducing/preventing complications.
methodsWe searched electronic databases (Medline, Embase, CENTRAL, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL) from inception to 25th June 2018 using the terms "abdominal tuberculosis" OR "intestinal tuberculosis" OR "peritoneal tuberculosis" OR "tuberculous peritonitis" AND steroids OR methylprednisolone OR prednisolone. Bibliography of potential articles was also searched. We included studies comparing adjunctive steroids to antitubercular therapy (ATT) alone. We excluded non-English articles, case reports, reviews and unrelated papers. The primary outcome was a comprehensive clinical outcome including need for surgery or the presence of symptomatic stricture (abdominal pain or intestinal obstruction). Quality assessment of included studies was done using ROBINS-I tool. Random-effects model was used to calculate the summary effect for all the outcomes.
resultsOf total 633 records, three studies on peritoneal tuberculosis were included in meta-analysis. These papers were of poor quality (one quasi-randomised study and two retrospective cohort studies). Meta-analyses showed adjunctive steroids, with ATT is more effective than ATT alone in tuberculous peritonitis patients for the prevention of composite end point (RR 0.15 [0.04, 0.62], p = 0.008), symptomatic stricture(RR 0.15 [0.04-0.62] p = 0.008) and intestinal obstruction (RR 0.18 [0.03-0.99] p = 0.05).
conclusionThe data on use of steroids for abdominal tuberculosis are limited to peritoneal tuberculosis. Although steroids seem to have some benefit in patients of tubercular peritonitis, the poor quality of studies limits the generalisability of the findings. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42016047347.
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.