Diagnostic performance of lung ultrasound for transient tachypnea of the newborn: A meta-analysis

PLoS One. 2021 Mar 29;16(3):e0248827. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248827. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Several recent studies demonstrated that lung ultrasound could achieve desired diagnostic accuracy for transient tachypnea of the neonate (TTN). However, the diagnostic performance of lung ultrasound for TTN has not been systematically studied to date. This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the performance of lung ultrasound in diagnosing TTN. The relevant literature was searched in PubMed, Medline, the Cochrane Library, and Embase databases without any restriction in terms of language and time until January 31, 2021. Studies that assessed the diagnostic performance of lung ultrasound for TTN were included. Seven studies with 1514 participants were summarized. The lung ultrasound provided more accurate performance for diagnosing TTN with pooled sensitivity and specificity of 0.67 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.63-0.71] and 0.97 (95% CI = 0.95-0.98), respectively. A higher summarized area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve was observed as 0.9906. Lower sensitivity and area under the curve (AUC) of B-lines for TTN were observed as 0.330 (95% CI = 0.27-0.38) and 0.5000, respectively. Lung ultrasound provided highly accurate AUC, sensitivity, and specificity in detecting TTN. Large-scale studies are warranted in the future to confirm these results.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Likelihood Functions
  • Lung / diagnostic imaging*
  • Publication Bias
  • ROC Curve
  • Risk
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn / diagnosis*
  • Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn / diagnostic imaging*
  • Ultrasonography*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFC1000500).