title: Association between serum C-reactive protein value and prognosis of patients with non-small cell lung cancer: a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  C-reactive protein (CRP) has been reported, with controversy, to be associated with poor survival of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the prognostic role of CRP in NSCLC.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched PubMed, EMBASE and CNKI databases for published studies that evaluated the prognostic role of CRP in NSCLC up to March 1, 2014. The data were analyzed using STATA software (Version 12.0; Stata Corporation). Hazard ratios (HRs) with a 95% CI and 5-year survival rates were calculated to evaluate the relationships between CRP levels and the prognosis of NSCLC patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eight studies were included, totaling 1668 NSCLC patients. The results revealed that elevated CRP values might predict poor 5-year overall survival rates (RR=2.15, 95% CI: 1.78-2.59) and poor 5-year disease-specific survival rates (RR=2.12, 95% CI: 1.56-2.88). The pooled HR between stage I/II and stage III/IV patients was 0.98 (95% CI: 0.26-3.63, P=0.976), which indicated that the difference between the survival rates of the patients with elevated CRP and those with undetectable CRP was not significant. In our survival analysis, the results of Egger's testing did not demonstrate evidence of publication bias (P=0.099).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elevated CRP level is relevant to poorer survival of NSCLC patients and might be used as a prognostic biomarker for NSCLC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University No. 22 Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, Tianjin 300070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiyue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.affiliation: National Clinical Research Center for Cancer; Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Department of Pancreatic Cancer, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital Tianjin 300060, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Chongbiao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University No. 22 Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, Tianjin 300070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hongyu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University No. 22 Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, Tianjin 300070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Changping
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University No. 22 Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, Tianjin 300070, P. R. China ; Tianjin First Center Hospital 24 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300192, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Linlin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University No. 22 Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, Tianjin 300070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jiageng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University No. 22 Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, Tianjin 300070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Guan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University No. 22 Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, Tianjin 300070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University No. 22 Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, Tianjin 300070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhuang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: VIP Oncology Ward, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital Tianjin 300060, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Daliang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University No. 22 Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, Tianjin 300070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
keywords: C-reactive protein; non-small cell lung cancer; prognosis