Diagnostic accuracy of sensitive or high-sensitive troponin on presentation for myocardial infarction: a meta-analysis and systematic review

BACKGROUND Recently, high-sensitive troponin (hsTrop) assays consistent with professional societies' recommendations became available. We aimed to summarize the evidence on the diagnostic accuracy of hsTrop on presentation. METHODS We searched electronic databases for studies evaluating the diagnostic accuracy of hsTrop in suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients. Random effect meta-analyses and meta-regression were performed. Primary and secondary analyses were restricted to studies using conventional Trop and hsTrop in the reference standard, respectively. RESULTS Fifteen studies with a total of 8,628 patients met the inclusion criteria for the primary analysis. hsTrop T (Hoffman-La Roche Ltd) and hsTrop I (Siemens) had sensitivities of 0.89 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.86-0.91) and 0.90 (95% CI: 0.87-0.92) and specificities of 0.79 (95% CI: 0.77-0.80) and 0.89 (95% CI: 0.87-0.90), respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the area under the curve between hsTrop (95% CI: 0.920) and conventional Trop (95% CI: 0.929) at the 99th percentile (P=0.62). hsTrop at the level of detection had a sensitivity of 0.97 (95% CI: 0.96-0.98) and a specificity of 0.41 (95% CI: 0.40-0.42). The studies using a cut-off at coefficient of variance <10% as opposed to the 99th percentile for the conventional assay used for diagnosis reported higher diagnostic accuracy (relative diagnostic odds ratio =2.13, P=0.02). Five studies were included in the secondary analysis; hsTrop T (Hoffman-La Roche Ltd) had a sensitivity of 0.91 (95% CI: 0.89-0.93) and a specificity of 0.67 (95% CI: 0.63-0.70). There was significant heterogeneity among the studies. CONCLUSION hsTrop have excellent diagnostic accuracy for myocardial infarction on presentation, but may not outperform conventional Trop assays. The variation among the studies can be explained, in part, by the cut-off used for conventional Trop assays.