Diagnosis of tuberculosis through breath test: A systematic review

Breath tests may diagnose tuberculosis (TB) through detecting specific volatile organic compounds produced by Mycobacterium tuberculosis or the infected host.

To estimate the diagnostic accuracy of breath test with electronic-nose and other devices against culture or other tests for TB, we screened multiple databases until January 6, 2019.

We included fourteen studies, with 1715 subjects in the analysis. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of electronic-nose were 0.93 (95% CI 0.82-0.97) and 0.93 (95% CI 0.82-0.97), respectively, and no heterogeneity was found. The sensitivity and specificity of other breath test devices ranged from 0.62 to 1.00, and 0.11 to 0.84, respectively.

The low to moderate evidence of these studies shows that breath tests can diagnose TB accurately, however, to give a real-time test result, additional development is needed. Research should also focus on sputum smear negative TB, children, and the positioning of breath testing in the diagnostic work flow.

The authors received no specific funding for this work.