title: The Screening Performance of Serum 1,3-Beta-D-Glucan in Patients with Invasive Fungal Diseases: A Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies.
abstract: The serum 1,3-beta-D-glucan (BG) assay aids in the early diagnosis of invasive fungal diseases (IFDs) and has been approved for their diagnosis. However, reports on the screening performance of BG are scarce. We performed a meta-analysis of data extracted from only prospective cohort studies to evaluate the screening performance of the BG assay in the diagnosis of IFDs. We specifically searched 4 databases (the PubMed, Web of Science, Elsevier, and Cochrane Collaboration databases) according to EORTC-MSG criteria. A total of 1068 patients in 11 studies were analyzed. Deeks' funnel plot asymmetry test suggested a low likelihood of publication bias for the included studies (p = 0.055). The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio, and area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve, with 95% confidence intervals, were 0.75(0.63,0.84), 0.87(0.81,0.92), 5.85(3.96,8.63), 0.30(0.20,0.45), 19.53(11.16,34.18), and 0.89(0.86,0.91), respectively. The findings of this meta-analysis suggest that the BG assay is a useful screening tool with high sensitivity and specificity for discriminating between patients with and without IFDs. In clinical practice, BG assay results should be evaluated together with clinical and microbiological findings.
authors.affiliation: Medical Department of HAI Control, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong province, 510080, China.
authors.forename: Tie-Ying
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Intensive Care Unit, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong province, 510080, China.
authors.forename: Shou-Hong
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Intensive Care Unit, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong province, 510080, China.
authors.forename: Sui-Xin
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong province, 510080, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Xin
authors.initials: WX
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Surgery intensive care unit, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong province, 510080, China.
authors.forename: Dan-Dong
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Hospital of TCM, Guangzhou, Guangdong province, 510130, China.
authors.forename: De-Hong
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009181:Mycoses / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D047071:beta-Glucans / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D047071:beta-Glucans; C033363:beta-1,3-glucan