focused on latent TB (as NAAT for latent TB has already been assessed);
did not provide information on the pre-specified target population (i.e. were focused on mycobacteria that cause Hansen’s disease (leprosy);
did not address one of the pre-specified outcomes and/or provided inadequate data on these outcomes;
were in a language other than English and were of a lower level of evidence than the included studies; or
did not have an appropriate study design.
If the same data were duplicated in multiple articles, only results from the most comprehensive or most recent article were included.
Specified a priori patient subgroups of particular interest in the analysis included patients with high and low pre-test probabilities of having TB and patients with HIV.
