Prognostic significance of systemic inflammatory markers in esophageal cancer: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Aim: Impact of several immune-inflammatory markers on long-term outcome has been reported in various malignancies. The aim of the present study was to evaluate through a meta-analysis the oncological outcome of immune-inflammatory markers, such as neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and C-reactive protein to albumin ratio (CAR) in esophageal cancer. Methods: A systematic electronic search for relevant studies was carried out in PubMed, Cochrane library, Embase, and Google scholar. Meta-analysis was done using hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) as effect measures. A systematic review and meta-analysis were undertaken according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol. P-values