Coordinator

Dr. Karen Steingart, Editor, Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group, Honorary Research Fellow, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Subgroup Members

 

Website

www.tbevidence.org

 

Project 2010-2011

Economic and epidemiological costs of TB serological testing in India

This project was designed in the context of increasing concern that had been raised about the use of serological tests for the diagnosis of active tuberculosis in India, where serological tests with inconsistent data to support their sensitivity and specificity undermine national TB control efforts by supplanting other diagnostics with a stronger track record of diagnostic utility.

The purpose of this project was to develop a decision-analytic cost-effectiveness model to estimate the impact of inappropriately-used serological tests on TB burden, in particular the human and economic costs of serological testing on TB control efforts in India.

PLoS Medicine, Serological Testing Versus Other Strategies for Diagnosis of Active Tuberculosis in India: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, August 2011 Download article

Presentation on serology model

Related links: WHO policy statement, Presentation at NDWG Annual Meeting

 

Evidence summaries for systematic reviews on TB diagnostics

High quality evidence on TB diagnostics is critical to develop evidence-based policies on TB diagnosis, and, ultimately, for effective control of the global TB epidemic. In the past few years, more than 30 systematic reviews have been published on various TB tests. These reviews have synthesized the results of more than 1000 primary studies, and have provided valuable insights into the diagnostic accuracy of various tests. The following plain language summaries for 15 of the major systematic reviews have been produced using a standardized format and are available for download.