Postgraduate medical journal
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Meta Analysis
Association between Helicobacter pylori infection and irritable bowel syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Helicobacter pylori infection and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) negatively affect the quality of life. Some previous studies found that H. pylori infection should be positively associated with the risk of IBS, but others did not. The present study aims to clarify this association, and to further analyse whether H. pylori treatment can improve IBS symptoms. ⋯ H. pylori infection is associated with an increased risk of IBS. H. pylori eradication treatment can improve IBS symptoms.
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Review Meta Analysis
Reliability of patient-reported comorbidities: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Self-reported questionnaires have become a widely adopted method of reviewing patients in clinical practice. This systematic review aimed to determine the reliability of patient-reported comorbidities and to identify which patient factors influence the reliability. Included studies assessed the reliability of at least one patient-reported comorbidity against their medical record or clinical assessment as gold standard. ⋯ Factors most frequently reported to influence concordance included age, sex and educational level. This systematic review demonstrated poor-to-moderate reliability for most systems, except for endocrine which showed good-to-excellent reliability. Although patient self-reporting can be a useful guide to clinical management, several patient factors were demonstrated to affect reliability therefore it should be avoided as a standalone measure.
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Review Meta Analysis
Clinicopathological and prognostic values of PD-L1 expression in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a meta-analysis of 31 studies with 5368 patients.
Several immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1)/programmed death 1 have successfully improved the prognosis of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) with approval in certain countries. However, whether the expression of PD-L1 is associated with the degree of benefit is unclear yet and a unified standard of antibody and cut-off value of PD-L1 detection is also lacking. The current meta-analysis then aimed to explore the association between PD-L1 expression and clinicopathological features as well as prognosis in ESCC. ⋯ Heterogeneity decreased significantly in subgroup analyses. The overexpression of PD-L1 was associated with poor DFS at the cut-off point of ≥1% (HR 1.642, 95% CI 1.367 to 1.973, p<0.010; I2=0%) and worse OS at the cut-off point of ≥10% (HR 1.575, 95% CI 1.175 to 2.111, p<0.010; I2=0%). The overexpression of PD-L1 was correlated with lymph node and distant metastasis as well as poor survival of ESCC.
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Meta Analysis
Is metformin use associated with a reduced risk of oesophageal cancer? A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Studies on the association between metformin use and the risk of oesophageal cancer (OC) have generated controversial findings. This updated meta-analysis was conducted to reassess the effects of metformin on OC. ⋯ CRD42021237127.
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Review Meta Analysis
Association between IL-6 and severe disease and mortality in COVID-19 disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
So far, SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus found to infect humans and cause disease with quite a strong infectivity. Patients diagnosed as severe or critical cases are prone to multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, acute respiratory distress syndrome and even death. Proinflammatory cytokine IL-6 has been reported to be associated with the severity of disease and mortality in patients with COVID-19. ⋯ CRD42021233649.