Can CT Finding of Ground-Glass Opacity Predict COVID-19 in Suspected Patients? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: CT imaging of ground-glass opacity (GGO) has good potential in the early diagnosis of COVID-19. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of GGO for detecting COVID-19 on suspected patients. Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of Science, CNKI and Wanfang Data were searched up to December 31, 2020. We included studies providing diagnostic test accuracy of chest CT and detailed CT feature description for COVID-19. We extracted data from the publication. Sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve were pooled. Heterogeneity was detected across included studies. The potential sources of heterogeneity were explored by Meta-regression and subgroup analysis. Findings: Eleven studies with 1618 cases were included. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, DOR and AUC was 0·74 (95% CI, 0·61 to 0·84), 0·52 (95% CI, 0·33 to 0·70), 3·14 (95% CI, 1·42 to 6·94), respectively. There was obvious heterogeneity among included studies ( p < 0·0001). The study region, inclusion criteria, research quality, research methods might contribute to the heterogeneity. The included studies had no significant publication bias in included studies ( p = 0·37). Interpretation: GGO has limited value for detecting COVID-19 in suspected cases, which suggested combination of GGO and other CT features in clinical practice. Funding Statement: This study has received funding by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 81101096); the Medical Scientific Research Foundation of Guangdong Province (grant number B2011102); Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province (grant number 2015A020212017); and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (grant number 2016A030313323; 2017A030313841). Declaration of Interests: All authors have completed the ICMJE conflict of interest form and declare no competing interests.