Comparative performance evaluation of QIAreach QuantiFERON-TB and tuberculin skin test for diagnosis of tuberculosis infection in Viet Nam

Current WHO-recommended diagnostic tools for tuberculosis infection (TBI) have well-known limitations and viable alternatives are urgently needed. We compared the diagnostic performance and accuracy of the novel QIAreach QuantiFERON-TB assay (QIAreach; index) to the QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus assay (QFT-Plus; reference). The sample included 261 adults (≥ 18 years) recruited at community-based TB case finding events. Of these, 226 underwent Tuberculin Skin Tests and 200 returned for interpretation (TST; comparator). QIAreach processing and TST reading were completed at lower-level healthcare facilities. We conducted matched-pair comparisons for QIAreach and TST with QFT-Plus, calculated sensitivity, specificity and area under a receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC), and analyzed concordant-/discordant-pair interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) levels. QIAreach sensitivity and specificity were 98.5% and 72.3%, respectively, for an AUC of 0.85. TST sensitivity (53.2%) at a 5 mm induration threshold was significantly below QIAreach, while specificity (82.4%) was statistically equivalent. The corrected mean IFN-γ level of 0.08 IU/ml and corresponding empirical threshold (0.05) of false-positive QIAreach results were significantly lower than the manufacturer-recommended QFT-Plus threshold (≥ 0.35 IU/ml). Despite QIAreach’s higher sensitivity at equivalent specificity to TST, the high number of false positive results and low specificity limit its utility and highlight the continued need to expand the diagnostic toolkit for TBI.