Prognostic value of performance status in metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients receiving tyrosine kinase inhibitors: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Yawei Xu†,
Yuanyuan Zhang†,
Xianhao Wang,
Jiaqi Kang and
Xiaoqiang LiuEmail author View ORCID ID profile

†Contributed equally

BMC Cancer201919:168

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-019-5375-0

Received: 26 August 2018
Accepted: 18 February 2019
Published: 22 February 2019

Open Peer Review reports

Abstract

Background

The association between performance status (PS) and the prognosis of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) patients receiving tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) remains controversial. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prognostic value of PS in mRCC patients treated with TKIs.

Methods

Electronic databases were searched to identify the studies that had assessed the association between pretreatment PS and prognosis in mRCC patients receiving TKIs. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) from eligible studies were used to calculate combined HRs. The heterogeneity across the included studies was assessed by Cochrane’s Q test and I2 statistic. The Begg’s funnel plot and Egger’s linear regression teats were used to evaluate the potential publication bias. The meta-analysis was performed with RevMan 5.3 and Stata SE12.0 according to the PRISMA guidelines.

Results

A total of 6780 patients from 19 studies were included in this meta-analysis. The results showed that a poor PS was an effective prognostic factor of both OS (pooled HR: 2.08, 95% CI: 1.78–2.45) and PFS (pooled HR: 1.51, 95% CI: 1.20–1.91). Subgroup analysis revealed that poor PS significantly associated with poor OS and PFS in studies using Karnofsky PS scale (OS, pooled HR: 2.20, 95% CI: 1.65–2.94; PFS, pooled HR: 1.74, 95% CI: 1.19–2.56), conducted in Asia (OS, pooled HR: 2.25, 95% CI: 1.71–2.95; PFS, pooled HR: 1.73, 95% CI: 1.14–2.64) and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale score of 8 (OS, pooled HR: 2.61, 95% CI: 1.92–3.55; PFS, pooled HR: 2.43, 95% CI: 1.36–4.33).