ReviewEBioMedicine2022
Reimagining the status quo: How close are we to rapid sputum-free tuberculosis diagnostics for all?
Review in EBioMedicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 2 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
41 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cough biomarkers for diagnosis and monitoring of respiratory disease: a systematic review.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026Pooled it
- Stool Xpert MTB/RIF as a possible diagnostic alternative to sputum in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2023Pooled it
- Expanding Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra and lateral flow urine lipoarabinomannan testing for diagnosis of tuberculosis among adults living with HIV admitted to hospitals in Tanzania and Mozambique (EXULTANT): a randomised controlled trial.The Lancet. Infectious diseases · 2026Trial
- Lung ultrasound and the interstitial syndrome in tuberculosis endemic regions: illustrated insights from diverse clinical settings.Journal of clinical tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases · 2026Review
- External validation of cough-based algorithms for pulmonary tuberculosis screening from the CODA TB DREAM challenge using cough data from Peru.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Diagnostic accuracy of Pluslife MiniDock MTB on tongue swabs in sputum scarce people with presumptive TB: a retrospective analysis.Research square · 2026Article
- Self-reduced Pd nanoparticles on NiMn-LDHs with superior catalytic activity for signal amplification in electrochemical aptasensing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis ESAT-6 antigen.Mikrochimica acta · 2025Article
- Using sputum and tongue swab specimens for in-home point-of-care targeted universal testing for tuberculosis of household contacts: an acceptability and feasibility analysis.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- Electro-impedimetric detection of human anti-mycolate antibody biomarkers of TB before, during, and after treatment.Biomarkers in medicine · 2025Observational
- Performance of stool Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis among adults living with HIV: a multicentre, prospective diagnostic study.The Lancet. Microbe · 2025Observational
- Strategies for shortening tuberculosis therapy.Nature medicine · 2025Review
- Diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care triage tests for pulmonary tuberculosis using host blood protein biomarkers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Oral washes and tongue swabs for Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra-based tuberculosis diagnosis in people with and without the ability to make sputum.Research square · 2025Article
- Article
- Advancing against drug-resistant tuberculosis: an extensive review, novel strategies and patent landscape.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2025Review
- A Comprehensive Review of the Diagnostics for Pediatric Tuberculosis Based on Assay Time, Ease of Operation, and Performance.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- AI-Y: An AI Checklist for Population Ethics Across the Global Context.Current epidemiology reports · 2025Review
- Article
- Single and Combined Serum Proteins Expressed in TB Infection are Candidates for Point-of-care Diagnostic Testing of Active TB Patients in Lambaréné, Gabon.Open forum infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Classification of early tuberculosis states to guide research for improved care and prevention: an international Delphi consensus exercise.The Lancet. Respiratory medicine · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 5 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Rapid, accurate, sputum-free tests for tuberculosis (TB) triage and confirmation are urgently needed to close the widening diagnostic gap. We summarise key technologies and review programmatic, systems, and resource issues that could affect the impact of diagnostics. Mid-to-early-stage technologies like artificial intelligence-based automated digital chest X-radiography and capillary blood point-of-care assays are particularly promising. Pitfalls in the diagnostic pipeline, included a lack of community-based tools. We outline how these technologies may complement one another within the context of the TB care cascade, help overturn current paradigms (eg, reducing syndromic triage reliance, permitting subclinical TB to be diagnosed), and expand options for extra-pulmonary TB. We review challenges such as the difficulty of detecting paucibacillary TB and the limitations of current reference standards, and discuss how researchers and developers can better design and evaluate assays to optimise programmatic uptake. Finally, we outline how leveraging the urgency and innovation applied to COVID-19 is critical to improving TB patients' diagnostic quality-of-care.
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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.