Background: Group B streptococcus (Streptococcus agalactiae, GBS) was reported as a major cause of neonatal infection and death. To prevent vertical transmission, CDC recommended that all women in week 35-37 of pregnancy should receive the GBS colonization test. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate diagnostic accuracy and detection rate of real-time PCR for GBS in pregnant women.

Methods: The literature review for GBS using real-time PCR was done including KoreaMed, Ovid- MEDLINE, Ovid-EMBASE, and Cochrane Library on November 3, 2015. 443 articles were collected. Two authors select articles and evaluated the quality of studies using Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network tool independently.

Results: Diagnostic accuracy of the real-time PCR was assessed by meta-analysis through 34 articles (13,516 for real-time PCR, 1,815 for culture and other comparison test). The GBS colonization was assessed through 34 articles, which reported varying values of 2.0-69.2% using real-time PCR. The real-time PCR for GBS was shown to have overall sensitivity of 0.93 (95% CI 0.92-0.94, I2=86.3%), overall specificity of 0.96 (95% CI 0.96-0.96, I2= 90.2%), SROC AUC of 0.99.

Conclusion: Real-time PCR is an effective test for detecting GBS colonization in pregnant women, resulted in preventing the infection in a new born baby. (Ann Clin Microbiol 2017;20:42-51)