b Ethambutol (EMB) is a first-line antituberculosis drug; however, drug resistance to EMB has been increasing. Molecular drug susceptibility testing (DST), based on the embB gene, has recently been used for rapid identification of EMB resistance. The aim of this meta-analysis was to establish the accuracy of molecular assay for detecting drug resistance to EMB. PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science were searched according to a written protocol and explicit study selection criteria. Measures of diagnostic accuracy were pooled using a random effects model. A total of 34 studies were included in the meta-analysis. The respective pooled sensitivities and specificities were 0.57 and 0.93 for PCR-DNA sequencing that targeted the embB 306 codon, 0.76 and 0.89 for PCR-DNA sequencing that targeted the embB 306, 406, and 497 codons, 0.64 and 0.70 for detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates, 0.55 and 0.78 for detecting M. tuberculosis sputum specimens using the GenoType MTBDRsl test, 0.57 and 0.87 for pyrosequencing, and 0.35 and 0.98 for PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism. The respective pooled sensitivities and specificities were 0.55 and 0.92 when using a lower EMB concentration as the reference standard, 0.67 and 0.73 when using a higher EMB concentration as the reference standard, and 0.60 and 1.0 when using multiple reference standards. PCR-DNA sequencing using multiple sites of the embB gene as detection targets, including embB 306, 406, and 497, can be a rapid method for preliminarily screening for EMB resistance, but it does not fully replace phenotypic DST. Of the reference DST methods examined, the agreement rates were the best using MGIT 960 for molecular DST and using the proportion method on Middlebrook 7H10 media.T uberculosis (TB) is one of the most serious infectious diseases in the world. According to the 2013 Global Tuberculosis report by the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2012 an estimated 450,000 people developed multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), and there were approximately 170,000 deaths due to MDR-TB worldwide (1). MDR-TB and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) are among the greatest threats to the success of TB control in the world (2, 3). Ethambutol (EMB) is one of the firstline drugs included in the directly observed, treatment shortcourse antitubercular regimen recommended by the WHO (3). EMB is commonly used in combination with isoniazid (INH), rifampin (RIF), and pyrazinamide to treat TB, particularly when treating MDR-TB and XDR-TB (3). EMB has also been found to protect companion drugs against resistance, particularly INH (4). Initially, EMB was effective for preventing treatment failures caused by M. tuberculosis isolates resistant to other anti-TB drugs; however, the resistance rate of EMB has gradually increased in some regions and is close to 50% in TB patients that are retreated (5-7). In China, the resistance rate for EMB increased from 6.52% in 2007 to 17. 18% in 2010 (8). Therefore, rapid and effective methods of drug susceptibility testing (DST) for M. tuberculos...