Serum galactomannan level for the diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in hospitalized patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): Meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: The serum galactomannan (GM) assay is used to diagnose invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA). We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the overall accuracy of the serum GM test for detecting IPA in critically ill COPD patients. Methods: The web of science, Pubmed, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang, Weipu (VIP) Science China databases were searched for all the eligible studies, including randomized controlled trials and prospective studies up to February 2019. We selected and assessed articles that reported diagnostic data related to serum GM for diagnosis of invasive fungal disease in hospitalized COPD patients. Additionally, pooled sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), true positive (TP), false positive (FP), true negative (TN), false negative (FN) were estimated for summarizing overall test performance. Results: Of 1104 articles screened, 14 studies were involved in the meta-analysis with 1127 patients in the COPD serum sample. The pooled serum GM assay results with cutoff value of 0.5 were as follows: DOR: 15 (95% CI, 6–38), sensitivity: 0.57 (95% CI, 0.37–0.75), specificity: 0.92 (95%,CI, 0.85–0.96), and the SROC was 0.89 (95% CI, 0.86–0.91). When the cutoff value was 1, the results were as follows: DOR: 33 (95% CI, 15–70), sensitivity: 0.57 (95% CI, 0.39–0.73), specificity: 0.96 (95% CI, 0.93–0.98), and SROC was 0.95 (95% CI, 0.92–0.96). Conclusion: Serum GM can be used to assist in diagnosis of IPA in critically ill COPD patients. When cutoff value was set as 1, serum GM had better diagnostic value compared to those with cutoff of 0.5.