Background: The goal of this study was to further investigate the clinical effectiveness of the T-SPOT.TB test in\ndiagnosing tuberculosis (TB), including the effects of T-SPOT.TB test on evaluating diverse TB types and locations.\nMethods: We collected 20,332 specimens from patients suspected to have TB. Afterwards, we performed an\nintegrative analysis of T-SPOT.TB results and clinical diagnoses, and evaluated the composition ratio and positive\ndetection rate of the T-SPOT.TB test in various age groups, sample types, and hospital departments. In addition, we\ncompared the spot number and composition rate between latent TB infection (LTBI), active TB infection, and old TB\ninfection groups. The active TB group was then further divided into pulmonary TB (PTB), pulmonary and extrapulmonary\nTB (PETB), and extrapulmonary TB (EPTB) subgroups, and we evaluated whether there were statistical differences in spot\nnumber and composition rate between subgroups.\nResults: Positive results from the T-SPOT.TB test were found across different age groups, specimen types, and hospital\ndepartments. Elderly patient groups, pleural effusion samples, and thoracic surgery departments showed the highest rates\nof positivity. There were no statistically significant differences in spot number of CFP-10 and ESAT-6 wells between disease\ngroups or active TB subgroups. The composition rate, however, was significantly different when ESAT-6 and CFP-10 wells\nwere double-positive. The spot number and composition rate were statistically different between the three disease\ngroups, but showed no significant differences between the three subgroups of active TB.\nConclusions: The results of T-SPOT. TB test showed differences in LTBI, active TB and old TB. Additionally, a higher spot\nnumber level was observed in the active TB group.
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