ArticleJournal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society2021
A Prospective Evaluation of Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra for Childhood Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Uganda.
Article in Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 4 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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra assay for tuberculosis disease and rifampicin resistance in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra assay for pulmonary tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance in adults and adolescents.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Diagnostic accuracy of Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra for detecting pulmonary tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2025Pooled it
- Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra assay for tuberculosis disease and rifampicin resistance in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Stool Processing Methods for Xpert Ultra Testing in Childhood Tuberculosis: A Prospective, Multicountry Accuracy Study.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2026Article
- New Tool Against Tuberculosis: The Potential of the LAMP Lateral Flow Assay in Resource-Limited Settings.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Article
- The Accuracy of the Uganda National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Program diagnostic algorithm and the World Health Organisation treatment decision algorithms for childhood tuberculosis: A retrospective analysis.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Article
- The socioeconomic burden of pediatric tuberculosis and role of child-sensitive social protection.BMC public health · 2023Article
- High burden of pulmonary tuberculosis and missed opportunity to initiate treatment among children in Kampala, Uganda.African health sciences · 2022Article
- Diagnostic Advances in Childhood Tuberculosis-Improving Specimen Collection and Yield of Microbiological Diagnosis for Intrathoracic Tuberculosis.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Detection of pulmonary tuberculosis in children using the Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra assay on sputum: a multicenter study.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundXpert MTB/RIF Ultra (Xpert Ultra) has improved the sensitivity to detect pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in adults. However, there have been limited prospective evaluations of its diagnostic accuracy in children.
methodsWe enrolled children undergoing assessment for pulmonary TB in Kampala, Uganda, over a 12-month period. Children received a complete TB evaluation and were classified as Confirmed, Unconfirmed, or Unlikely TB. We calculated the sensitivity and specificity of Xpert Ultra among children with Confirmed vs Unlikely TB. We also determined the diagnostic accuracy with clinical, microbiological, and extended microbiological reference standards (MRSs).
resultsOf the 213 children included, 23 (10.8%) had Confirmed TB, 88 (41.3%) had Unconfirmed TB, and 102 (47.9%) had Unlikely TB. The median age was 3.9 years, 13% were HIV-positive, and 61.5% were underweight. Xpert Ultra sensitivity was 69.6% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 47.1-86.8) among children with Confirmed TB and decreased to 23.4% (95% CI: 15.9-32.4) with the clinical reference standard. Specificity was 100% (95% CI: 96.4-100) among children with Unlikely TB and decreased to 94.7% (95% CI: 90.5-97.4) with a MRS. Sensitivity was 52.9% (95% CI: 35.1-70.2) and specificity 95.5% (95% CI: 91.4-98.1) with the extended MRS. Of the 26 positive Xpert Ultra results, 6 (23.1%) were "Trace-positive," with most (5/6) occurring in children with Unconfirmed TB.
conclusionsXpert Ultra is a useful tool for diagnosing pulmonary TB in children, but there remains a need for more sensitive tests to detect culture-negative TB.
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.