Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35962447›Full record

ArticleBMC rheumatology2022

Skin thickness affects the result of tuberculin skin test in systemic sclerosis.

Apichart So-Ngern, Ajanee Mahakkanukrauh, Siraphop Suwannaroj, Ratanavadee Nanagara, Chingching Foocharoen

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Article in BMC rheumatology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact, top 86% 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

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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

0 citing papers in PubMed, 0 citations in OpenAlex.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Apichart So-NgernDepartment of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand.
Ajanee MahakkanukrauhDepartment of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand.
Siraphop SuwannarojDepartment of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand.
Ratanavadee NanagaraDepartment of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand.
Chingching FoocharoenDepartment of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand. fching@kku.ac.th.
Khon Kaen University · TH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSkin thickness is a prominent clinical feature of systemic sclerosis (SSc), but there is no consensus on the cut-off for a positive tuberculin skin test (TST) size and the limitation of the TST for a diagnosis of tuberculosis in SSc. We aimed to identify the cut-off size of an indurated TST and the sensitivity and specificity of the test for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in SSc patients.

methodsA cross-sectional study of 168 adult Thai SSc patients was conducted. The TST was done using 0.1 ml of purified protein derivatives via intradermal injection. The test was interpreted 72 h after testing.

resultsThe median age was 57.2 years. The majority (71.8%) had the diffuse cutaneous SSc subset. All the patients had a BCG vaccination at birth, and 17 (10.1%) had a tuberculosis infection. An indurated skin reaction size of 20 mm had the highest specificity for tuberculosis (99.3%: 95%CI 96.4-100) (ROC 0.53). The skin thickness-assessed using the modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS)-had a significant negative correlation with the reaction size (Rho -0.23; p = 0.003).

conclusionThe TST is not sufficiently sensitive for detecting TB infection in SSc patients, albeit a skin induration of ≥ 15 mm indicates a high specificity for tuberculosis infection. A high mRSS resulted in a smaller skin reaction size when using the TST, which has limited utility as a diagnostic for tuberculosis among SSc patients with severe skin thickness. The manuscript was presented as a poster presentation at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology EULAR 2019 Madrid 12-15 June 2019. (Ann Rheum Dis. 2019;78(suppl 2): abstract FRI0347) http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2019-eular.1456.

Indexed as

Diagnostic studyLatent tuberculosisMycobacterium tuberculosisSclerodermaSystemic sclerosisTuberculin skin test

Identifiers

PMID35962447
PMCPMC9375415
OpenAlexW4290960359

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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.