title: High-visfatin levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: evidence from a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Previous studies regarding visfatin levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) showed conflicting results. To evaluate the visfatin levels in PCOS, a meta-analysis was performed.
  
  
  METHODS
  A comprehensive literature search of eligible studies in Embase, Pubmed and the Cochrane Library was undertaken through November 2014. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to estimate the strength of the association.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1341 subjects (695 cases and 646 controls) were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled analysis results indicated that the visfatin levels were significantly higher in PCOS patients than that of controls (SMD = 1.19, 95% CI 0.77-1.60, p = 0.000). The results from stratified analysis and univariate analysis suggested that high-visfatin levels were not related to body mass index (BMI), insulin resistance (IR) and total testosterone ratio. Significant heterogeneity was observed in all analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that high-circulating visfatin level is an intrinsic characteristic of PCOS, which suggests visfatin could be a potential biomarker for PCOS.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Clinical Laboratory , Liuzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine , Liuzhou , Guangxi , People's Republic of China .
authors.forename: Yifan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: b Department of Clinical Laboratory , Guigang City People's Hospital , Guigang , Guangxi , People's Republic of China , and.
authors.forename: Zhitong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: c Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology , Liuzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine , Liuzhou , Guangxi , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: a Department of Clinical Laboratory , Liuzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine , Liuzhou , Guangxi , People's Republic of China .
authors.forename: Chunming
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: a Department of Clinical Laboratory , Liuzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine , Liuzhou , Guangxi , People's Republic of China .
authors.forename: Shengbo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: a Department of Clinical Laboratory , Liuzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine , Liuzhou , Guangxi , People's Republic of China .
authors.forename: Shifu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007333:Insulin Resistance / Q000502:physiology*; D054409:Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase / Q000097:blood*; D011085:Polycystic Ovary Syndrome / Q000097:blood*; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D013739:Testosterone; D054409:Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase
keywords: Biomarker; meta-analysis; polycystic ovary syndrome; visfatin