title: Fecal lactoferrin in discriminating inflammatory bowel disease from irritable bowel syndrome: a diagnostic meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To perform a meta-analysis evaluating the diagnostic ability of fecal lactoferrin (FL) to distinguish inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
  
  
  METHODS
  The Medline, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane library and CNKI databases were systematically searched for studies that used FL concentrations to distinguish between IBD and IBS. The sensitivity, specificity, and other diagnostic indexes of FL were pooled using a random-effects model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seven studies, involving 1012 patients, were eligible for inclusion. In distinguishing IBD from IBS, FL had a pooled sensitivity of 0.78 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.75, 0.82), a specificity of 0.94 (95% CI: 0.91, 0.96), a positive likelihood ratio of 12.31 (95% CI: 5.93, 29.15), and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.23 (95% CI: 0.18, 0.29). The area under the summary receiver-operating characteristic curve was 0.94 (95% CI: 0.90, 0.98) and the diagnostic odds ratio was 52.65 (95% CI: 25.69, 107.91).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FL, as a noninvasive and simple marker, is useful in differentiating between IBD and IBS.
authors.forename: Xing-lu
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xiao-xiao
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Lai-sheng
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Jiang-feng
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.forename: Chen-jing
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Qin-dong
authors.initials: QD
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, School of Medicine, 88 Jiefang Road, Hangzhou, China. wspan223@163.com.
authors.forename: Wen-sheng
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Pan
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007781:Lactoferrin / Q000032:analysis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D007781:Lactoferrin