Background: Novel evidence showed that the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI) may lead to poor prognosis of human cancers. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to explore the impact of GNRI in lung cancer and its prognostic value.
Methods: We searched the databases of PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane Library up to July 2021 for relevant research and merged the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to evaluate the association between GNRI and overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in patients with lung cancer.
Results: Eight studies involving 2,399 patients were included in our primary meta-analysis. The results indicated that lower level of GNRI was associated with poorer OS, RFS, and CSS of lung cancer patients (OS: HR = 1.99, 95% CI: 1.68-2.35, p < 0.0001; RFS: HR = 2.34, 95% CI: 1.11-4.95, p = 0.0258; CSS: HR = 2.45, 95% CI: 1.43-4.18, p = 0.0011). The association was robust after subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis.
Conclusions: GNRI may be a prognostic factor of lung cancer, which can lead to poorer survival. However, more prospective studies are necessary to confirm the results.
Systematic review registration: International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO), identifier CRD42021269574.
Keywords: Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index; body weight; lung cancer; prognostic value; serum albumin; survival.
Copyright © 2022 Wang, Li, Yang, Jin, Liu and Li.