Table 5 Subgroup and sensitivity analysis of the association between sarcoidosis and mycobacteria
| Â | No. of studies | OR (95%CI) | P-value heterogeneity | I2 (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Subgroup analysis | ||||
 1 - Geographical region | ||||
 Europe | 22 | 6.92 (3.05, 15.71) | 0.004 | 53.8 |
 USA | 7 | 18.21 (4.64, 71.53) | 0.238 | 26.2 |
 Asia | 7 | 4.09 (1.38, 12.12) | 0.093 | 49.8 |
 2 - Publication year | ||||
   < 2000 | 20 | 6.63 (2.84, 15.51) | 0.006 | 54.2 |
   > =2000 | 16 | 8.40 (3.31, 21.31) | 0.012 | 53 |
 3 – Type of study | ||||
  Prospective | 10 | 11.91 (4.94, 28.69) | 0.743 | 0.0 |
  Retrospective | 26 | 6.41 (3.14, 13.09) | 0.001 | 57.1 |
 4 - Molecular technique | ||||
  PCR | 29 | 7.04 (3.57, 13.89) | 0.000 | 58.8 |
  Hybridization | 2 | 37.81 (3.40, 420.43) | 0.484 | 0.0 |
  Protein analysis | 2 | 12.12 (1.44, 102.20) | 0.408 | 0.0 |
  BD ProbeTec | 2 | 2.09 (0.23, 19.10) | 0.776 | 0.0 |
  Culture | 1 | 0.52 (0.02, 11.13) | - | - |
Sensitivity analysis | ||||
 1 - Biological samples | ||||
  Only lymph nodes | 11 | 3.82 (1.53, 9.49) | 0.384 | 4.0 |
  Only lung | 5 | 2.93 (1.09, 7.86) | 0.098 | 56.9 |
  Only skin | 2 | 11.58 (0.06, 2016.91) | 0.021 | 81.3 |
 2 – Incidence of tuberculosis | ||||
  Only countries with low burden of TB | 33 | 4.33 (2.06, 9.10) | 0.042 | 45.7 |