AUTHOR=Meng Chunyang , Gan Lijian , Li Kangsen , Yi Fulin , Peng Lei , Li Jinze , Li Yunxiang 

TITLE=Prognostic nutritional index before surgical treatment may serve as a prognostic biomarker for patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.972034

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2022.972034

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objective</title><p>This meta-analysis aims to assess whether the prognostic nutritional index (PNI) score before treatment can be an independent biomarker of the prognosis of patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC).</p></sec><sec><title>Materials and methods</title><p>We systematically search PubMed, Embase, Scopus database, and Cochrane Library, and the search time is up to April 2021. Use STATA 16.0 software for data processing and statistical analysis.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Six studies, including seven cohorts, were eventually included in our meta-analysis. The meta-analysis results showed that low PNI scores are associated with worse OS (HR: 1.92; 95% CI 1.60 to 2.30; <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.01), DFS/RFS/PFS (HR: 1.57; 95% CI 1.33 to 1.85; <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.01), and CSS/DSS (HR: 1.79; 95% CI 1.49 to 2.16; <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.01), which supported the PNI score as an independent prognostic biomarker for survival outcomes. The subgroup analysis and Begg’s test showed that the results were stable.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Based on current evidence, this meta-analysis proves that the PNI score of UTUC patients before treatment is an independent prognostic biomarker. It performs well on OS, DFS/RFS/PFS, and CSS/DSS. This conclusion needs to be verified by a prospective cohort study with larger sample size and a more rigorous design.</p></sec><sec><title>Systematic review registration</title><p>[<ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022338503" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022338503</ext-link>], identifier [CRD42022338503].</p></sec>