title: Tumor necrosis factor-α as a diagnostic marker for neonatal sepsis: a meta-analysis.
abstract: Neonatal sepsis (NS) is an important cause of mortality in newborns and life-threatening disorder in infants. The meta-analysis was performed to investigate the diagnosis value of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α ) test in NS. Our collectible studies were searched from PUBMED, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library between March 1994 and August 2013. Accordingly, 347 studies were collected totally, in which 15 articles and 23 trials were selected to study the NS in our meta-analysis. The TNF-α test showed moderate accuracy of the diagnosis of NS both in early-onset neonatal sepsis (sensitivity = 0.66, specificity = 0.76, Q∗ = 0.74) and in late-onset neonatal sepsis (sensitivity = 0.68, specificity = 0.89, Q∗ = 0.87). We also found the northern hemisphere group in the test has higher sensitivity (0.84) and specificity (0.83). A diagnostic OR analysis found that the study population may be the major reason for the heterogeneity. Accordingly, we suggest that TNF-α is also a valuable marker in the diagnosis of NS.
authors.affiliation: Systems Sepsis Team, Soochow University Affiliated Children's Hospital, Suzhou 215003, China ; Center for Systems Biology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China.
authors.forename: Bokun
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Systems Sepsis Team, Soochow University Affiliated Children's Hospital, Suzhou 215003, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Systems Sepsis Team, Soochow University Affiliated Children's Hospital, Suzhou 215003, China ; Center for Systems Biology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China.
authors.forename: Haining
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Suzhou Zhengxing Translational Biomedical Informatics Ltd., Taicang 215400, China.
authors.forename: Wenying
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Center for Systems Biology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China.
authors.forename: Guang
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8754-1541
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Systems Sepsis Team, Soochow University Affiliated Children's Hospital, Suzhou 215003, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9214-3302
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007232:Infant, Newborn, Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D018805:Sepsis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha