Meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy of nucleic acid amplification tests for abdominal tuberculosis: A protocol.

Background: Abdominal tuberculosis is a severe extrapulmonary tuberculosis, which can lead to serious complications. Early diagnosis and treatment are very important for the prognosis and the diagnosis of abdominal tuberculosis is still difficult. This study aims to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for abdominal tuberculosis using meta-analysis method.

Methods: We will search PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and the Wanfang database for studies evaluating the diagnostic accuracy of NAATs for abdominal tuberculosis until May 2020. We will include a systematic review and meta-analysis that evaluated the accuracy of NAATs for abdominal tuberculosis. Any types of study design with full text will be sought and included. The risk of bias will be assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies tool. Stata version 15.0 with the midas command packages will be used to carry out meta-analyses.

Results: The results will provide clinical evidence for diagnostic accuracy of NAATs for abdominal tuberculosis, and this systematic review and meta-analysis will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.

Conclusion: This overview will provide evidence of NAATs for diagnosis of abdominal tuberculosis.

Systematic Review Registration: INPLASY202060030.