Time to treatment initiation could be decreased with the increased use of nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), a recent study found. The retrospective review included surveillance data from 6,051 patients with culture-confirmed pulmonary TB who reported to the California TB registry during 2010 to 2013. Researchers found:

• 2,336 (39%) patients had a NAAT for diagnosis prior to culture results.
• 90% (n=2,101) with NAAT had positive test results; 9% (n=217) had falsely negative NAAT results; and 0.8% (n=18) had indeterminate NAAT results.
• Median time from specimen collection to TB treatment initiation was shorter when NAAT was used (3 vs 14 days).
• Patients with a positive NAAT result initiated treatment earlier than patients with a falsely negative result (1 vs 11 days).