ArticlePloS one2025
Diagnostic and treatment delay in extrapulmonary tuberculosis and association with mortality: Experiences from Mbeya, Tanzania.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Artificial intelligence on chest X-ray for tuberculosis screening in Tanzania: a multicentre evaluation.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Host- and pathogen-related determinants of pulmonaryEuropean respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundUnlike pulmonary tuberculosis, there is limited information on delays in diagnosis and treatment initiation in extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) and their consequences for disease outcomes and mortality. In low- and middle-income countries, most EPTB cases are presumed rather than microbiologically confirmed, which might lead to an underestimation of the mortality rates in EPTB.
objectiveThe study aimed to assess the delays in diagnosis and treatment in EPTB and their association with mortality in a setting with a high prevalence of both HIV and malnutrition.
methodWe included 106 EPTB patients from Mbeya Zonal Referral Hospital, who were followed up until the completion of their treatment. Patients were classified as having EPTB using a clinical case definition. In total, 37 of 106 (35%) EPTB cases resulted in death. The median (interquartile range) total diagnostic delay for survivors was 59 days (26-136), while for those who died, it was 78 days (32-165). The corresponding median (interquartile range) treatment delay was 66 days (33-140) for survivors and 78 days (27-189) for those who died. None of the differences reached statistical significance when analyzed with non-parametric tests. Surprisingly, 21 patients did not receive TB treatment, but this lack of therapy did not affect mortality or correlate with a longer diagnostic delay.
conclusionWe were unable to demonstrate that diagnostic or treatment delays were higher in EPTB patients who died. Furthermore, EPTB patients who did not receive TB treatment did not exhibit higher mortality rates. Further prospective studies with larger sample sizes are needed to better understand the factors contributing to delays in diagnosis and treatment, as well as their potential impact on mortality in EPTB.
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.