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Inexpensive Systemic Inflammatory Biomarkers in Ovarian Cancer: An Umbrella Systematic Review of 17 Prognostic Meta-Analyses

El Bairi K, Al Jarroudi O, Afqir S

Frontiers in oncology, 2021

4,910 participants · 21 citations

Abstract

The association of several inflammation-based biomarkers [lymphocyte-to-monocyte, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte, and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios (LMR, NLR, and PLR, respectively)] with the survival of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients has been extensively investigated in several systematic reviews and meta-analyses (MAs) of observational studies. The aim of this umbrella systematic review is to appraise all available results in published MAs that explored the association between these biomarkers and EOC outcomes. An umbrella systematic review of the current evidence for systemic inflammatory biomarkers in the peripheral blood of EOC patients was performed by searching several databases including PubMed/Medline and Web of Science. The quality of the MAs was appraised using the AMSTAR-2 tool as well as other qualitative criteria. The evidence was graded from convincing (Class I) to weak (Class IV). Our umbrella review appraised 17 MAs of retrospective studies (range: 7-16) with a number of enrolled patients ranging from 1,636 to 4,910 patients in each MA. All these MAs demonstrated that pretreatment high NLR and PLR, as well as low LMR, were independent predictors of poor overall survival and progression-free survival in EOC. Nearly all published MAs were conducted by Chinese researchers (16/17) and were redundant in their character. Another issue in these MAs is the absence of prior PROSPERO database registration as well as the earlier exclusion of the gray literature. On…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a meta-analysis, done in people. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid. Reported size: 4,910 participants or records.

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