Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34550805›Full record

ArticleJournal of clinical microbiology2021

The Impact of Borderline Quantiferon-TB Gold Plus Results for Latent Tuberculosis Screening under Routine Conditions in a Low-Endemicity Setting.

A Wikell, J Jonsson, R Dyrdak, A J Henningsson, A Eringfält, T Kjerstadius, E Hålldin, H Baqir, V Kholod, E Sturegård and 2 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of clinical microbiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing 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

13 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Managing tuberculosis infection among migrants from high-incidence tuberculosis countries: challenges, strategies and recommendations.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2026
    Review
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Comparison of Two Interferon-Gamma Release Assays for Pediatric Tuberculosis Infection.Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society · 2025
    Observational
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. 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

12 authors.

A WikellDepartment of Infectious Diseases, Karolinska University Hospitalgrid.24381.3c Solna, Stockholm, Sweden.
J JonssonThe Public Health Agency of Sweden, Solna, Sweden.
R DyrdakDepartment of Clinical Microbiology, Karolinska University Hospitalgrid.24381.3c, Stockholm, Sweden.
A J HenningssonDepartment of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
A EringfältDepartment of Clinical Microbiology, Halland County Hospital, Halmstad, Sweden.
T KjerstadiusLaboratory Medicine, Clinical Microbiology, Central Hospital, Karlstad, Sweden.
E HålldinDepartment of Clinical Microbiology, Västerås County Hospital, Västerås, Sweden.
H BaqirDepartment of Clinical Microbiology, Linköping University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden.
V KholodDepartment of Clinical Microbiology, Linköping University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden.
E SturegårdClinical Infection Medicine, Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
J BruchfeldDepartment of Infectious Diseases, Karolinska University Hospitalgrid.24381.3c Solna, Stockholm, Sweden.
T SchönDepartment of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0003-4849-1286

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Quantiferon-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) is an interferon gamma release assay used to diagnose latent tuberculosis (LTB). A borderline range (0.20 to 0.99 IU/ml) around the cutoff (0.35 IU/ml) has been suggested for the earlier QFT version. Our aims were to evaluate the borderline range for QFT-Plus and the contribution of the new TB2 antigen tube. QFT-Plus results were collected from clinical laboratories in Sweden and linked to incident active TB within 3 to 24 months using the national TB registry. Among QFT-Plus results from 58,539 patients, 83% were negative (<0.20 IU/ml), 2.4% were borderline negative (0.20 to 0.34 IU/ml), 3.4% were borderline positive (0.35 to 0.99 IU/ml), 9.6% were positive (≥1.0 IU/ml), and 1.6% were indeterminate. Follow-up tests after initial borderline results were negative (<0.20 IU/ml) in 38.3%, without any cases of incident active TB within 2 years. Applying the 0.35-IU/ml cutoff, 1.5% of TB1 and TB2 results were discrepant, of which 52% were within the borderline range. A TB2 result of ≥0.35 IU/ml with a TB1 result of <0.20 IU/ml was found in 0.4% (231/58,539) of all included baseline QFT-Plus test results, including 1.8% (1/55) of incident TB cases. A borderline range for QFT-Plus is clinically useful as more than one-third of those with borderline results are convincingly negative upon retesting, without developing incident active TB. The TB2 tube contribution to LTB diagnosis appears limited.

Indexed as

Latent TuberculosisMycobacterium tuberculosisHumansInterferon-gammaInterferon-gamma Release TestsInterferon-gammaactive tuberculosisborderline-range resultsinterferon gamma release assaylatent tuberculosisQuantiferon Plus

Identifiers

PMID34550805
PMCPMC8601246

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.