Prognostic value of pretreatment prognostic nutritional index in non-small cell lung cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract

The pretreatment prognostic nutritional index has been considered a potential prognostic biomarker in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but this remains controversial. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to systematically assess the prognostic value of the prognostic nutritional index in patients with NSCLC. We systematically searched PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and CNKI. The hazard ratios (HRs) with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to evaluate the link between the prognostic nutritional index and the oncological outcomes of patients with NSCLC, including overall survival, disease-free survival/recurrence-free survival, and progression-free survival. Fifteen studies were included in this meta-analysis. Twelve of these studies explored the association between the prognostic nutritional index and the overall survival of patients with NSCLC. Our pooled analysis indicated that a low prognostic nutritional index was significantly related to adverse overall survival (HR 1.61; 95% CI 1.44, 1.81; P < 0.001). Our results also showed that the prognostic nutritional index was a negative predictor for disease-free survival/recurrence-free survival, and progression-free survival in patients with NSCLC. Our meta-analysis demonstrated that there was a close association between the prognostic nutritional index value and prognosis in NSCLC patients and that the prognostic nutritional index may act as a useful prognostic biomarker in NSCLC patients.