Sepsis Screening Tool Performance in LMICs: A Meta-Analysis of 27 Studies

27 studies encompassing 30,310 patients across 14 low- and middle-income countries were analyzed to evaluate sepsis screening tools. The meta-analysis, authored by Jiale Tong and last updated in May 2026, compares the diagnostic accuracy of clinical and lab-based tools like qSOFA, NEWS, and SIRS. It reports pooled sensitivity, specificity, and AUROC metrics for each tool.

Use Cases

• Compare the diagnostic accuracy of clinical sepsis screening tools (e.g., qSOFA, NEWS) based on reported sensitivity and specificity metrics.
• Evaluate the trade-off between sensitivity and specificity for tools like SIRS based on the meta-analysis results.
• Inform the selection of tiered screening strategies based on the reported tool performance across different resource-availability levels.
• Assess the rule-in and rule-out utility of tools like qSOFA based on the reported positive and negative likelihood ratios.

Strengths

• Analysis includes 30,310 patient records from 27 studies, providing a substantial evidence base.
• Compares performance of six distinct screening tools (qSOFA, NEWS, MEWS, UVA, SIRS, SOFA) with specific AUROC, sensitivity, and specificity values.
• Focus on 14 low- and middle-income countries addresses a gap in evidence for resource-limited settings.
• Employs bivariate random-effects models and GRADE approach for evidence quality assessment.

Limitations

• The dataset is a 16.7 KB DOCX file, suggesting it contains summary tables rather than the raw, row-level study data.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred from the article text after download.
• Substantial heterogeneity was observed across the included studies (I² > 75%), which may affect generalizability.

Provenance

Source

figshare, author Jiale Tong.

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of studies from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Global Index Medicus through June 2025.

Time Range

Studies from database inception through June 2025.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-20 05:50:17

Geography

14 low- and middle-income countries.