Accuracy of Xpert Carba-R Assay for the Diagnosis of Carbapenemase-producing Organisms from Rectal Swabs in Asia: a Diagnostic Meta-analysis

The Cepheid Xpert Carba-R assay has been demonstrated to be reliable for rapid detection of carbapenemase-producing orgnisms (CPO) directly from rectal swabs but the performance of which remains unclear in Asia.We searched PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases to identify studies according to predetermined criteria. STATA 13.0 software was used to analyze the tests for sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC). QUADAS-2 was used to assess the quality of included studies with RevMan 5.2. A total of 5 unique studies involving 10807 samples met the inclusion criteria. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, and the AUC with 95% CIs of Xpert Carba-R were 0.91 (0.72–0.97), 0.99 (0.96–1.00), 71.24 (25.41–199.73), 0.09 (0.03–0.32), 0.99 (0.98–1.00), respectively. Deeks’ funnel plot showed no publication bias.The present meta-analysis showed the Xpert Carba-R assay had good sensitivity and perfect specificity for detecting CPOs on rectal swabs.