Predictive role of pretreatment skeletal muscle mass index for long-term survival of bladder cancer patients: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Purpose To identify the predictive role of pretreatment skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) for longterm survival of bladder cancer patients. Methods Several databases were searched for studies investigating the relationship between pretreatment SMI and prognosis in bladder cancer. The overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were defined as primary and secondary outcomes, respectively. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were combined. Results Nine studies involving 1476 cases were included. The results demonstrated that a lower pretreatment SMI was significantly related to poorer OS (HR = 1.5695% CI: 1.33-1.82, P<0.001) and subgroup analysis based on thresholds of SMI revealed similar results. Besides, pretreatment SMI was also obviously related to CSS (HR = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.36- 2.25, P<0.001). Conclusion Lower pretreatment SMI was associated with worse long-term survival of bladder cancer patients.