Diagnostic value of serum soluble triggering expressed receptor on myeloid cells 1 (sTREM-1) in suspected sepsis: a meta-analysis

Background We aim to synthesize the up-to-date studies to investigate the diagnostic value of serum soluble triggering expressed receptor on myeloid cells 1 (sTREM-1) in suspected sepsis. Results A total of 19 studies with 2418 patients were finally enrolled in the meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity was 0.82 (95% CI 0.73 to 0.89), specificity 0.81 (95% CI 0.75 to 0.86), positive likelihood ratio 4.3 (95% CI 3.02 to 6.12), negative likelihood ratio 0.22 (95% CI 0.24 to 0.35), diagnostic odds ratio 20 (95% CI 9 to 41) and AuROC 0.88 (95% CI 0.85 to 0.91). The meta-regression analysis revealed that the sample size, reference standard description, prevalence of sepsis in the trials and consecution of patient recruitment might be the source of heterogeneity. Conclusions The serum sTREM-1 had a moderate ability in diagnosis in suspected sepsis based on the current studies. However, more large-scale studies were needed to further evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of sTREM-1.