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Chinese Journal of Antituberculosis ›› 2021, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (10): 1073-1078.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1000-6621.2021.10.017

• Original Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Diagnostic value of immunological test combined with sputum smear and sputum culture in clinical diagnosis of active pulmonary tuberculosis

TIAN Li-li, YANG Xin-yu, DAI Xiao-wei, CHEN Shuang-shuang, ZHAO Yan-feng, WANG Nen-han, ZHANG Jie, YI Jun-li, REN Yi-xuan, CHEN Hao, FAN Rui-fang, SHI Wei-xian, WU Wen-qing(), HUANG Chun(), DING Bei-chuan   

  1. Beijing Institute of Tuberculosis Control, Beijing 100035, China
  • Received:2021-05-15 Online:2021-10-10 Published:2021-10-11
  • Contact: WU Wen-qing,HUANG Chun E-mail:wuwenqing1961@126.com;huangch@bjcdc.org

Abstract:

Objective To analyze the diagnostic value of combining tuberculosis infection T cell spot test (T-SPOT.TB), tuberculosis antibody,sputum smear and culture tests in detecting active pulmonary tuberculosis. Methods A total of 715 cases with suspected active pulmonary tuberculosis admitted to Beijing Tuberculosis Control Institute from January 2014 to December 2019 were examined, and 412 cases of active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB group) and 303 cases of non-tuberculosis patients (non-TB group) were finally diagnosed. All of them were tested with T-SPOT.TB, tuberculosis antibody, sputum smear and culture tests, to analyze the diagnostic performance of single test and combined tests with those four methods. Results In the TB group, the positive rate of T-SPOT.TB was 83.7% (345/412), while in the non-TB group, it was 20.8% (63/303). The difference was statistically significant (χ2=2.823, P=0.000). The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value and accuracy of T-SPOT.TB were 83.7% (345/412), 79.2% (240/303), 84.6% (345/408),78.2% (240/307) and 81.8% ((345+240)/715), respectively, while for combining four methods, they were 93.7% (386/412), 50.8% (154/303), 72.1% (386/535), 85.6% (154/180) and 75.5% ((386+154)/715), respectively. The area under ROC curve (AUC) of T-SPOT.TB, tuberculosis antibody, sputum smear and culture tests were 0.815, 0.575, 0.593 and 0.715, respectively, and the AUC of combining those four tests was 0.894. Conclusion The sensitivity and negative predictive value of T-SPOT.TB test are high, T-SPOT.TB combined with tuberculosis antibody and traditional sputum smear, culture tests has better sensitivity and AUC. Combined tests can improve the efficiency for diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis.

Key words: Enzyme-linked immunospot assay, Tuberculosis, pulmonary, Comparative study