title: Predictors for severe acute esophagitis in lung cancer patients treated with chemoradiotherapy: a systematic review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify the risk factors for severe acute esophagitis (AE) in lung cancer patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy (CRT).
  
  
  METHODS
  Articles from PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched in August 2015. Articles reporting studies of the predictors for severe AE in lung cancer patients after CRT were included. Study quality was assessed using a modified quality assessment tool that was designed previously for an observational study. The effects of studies were combined with the study quality score using a best-evidence synthesis model. Severe AE incidence was also performed using the Metafor package of R-2.11.1.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of nine observational studies involving 1641 patients were included. The estimated incidence of severe AE was 14%. According to the best-evidence synthesis criteria, there were two strong-evidence risk factors for severe AE, which were the use of concurrent chemotherapy (CCT) and dose volume histogram (DVH). We also identified four limited-evidence risk factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More attention should be paid to the levels of patients' esophagus function. Although there is no conclusive evidence for severe AE in lung cancer patients after CRT, the above-mentioned factors provide evidence to guide clinicians as to which patients will have severe AE and to choose an optimal prophylactic strategy.
authors.affiliation: a School of Nursing , Tianjin Medical University , Tianjin , China.
authors.forename: Bingyan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: a School of Nursing , Tianjin Medical University , Tianjin , China.
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: a School of Nursing , Tianjin Medical University , Tianjin , China.
authors.forename: Guiming
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: a School of Nursing , Tianjin Medical University , Tianjin , China.
authors.forename: Siyuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: a School of Nursing , Tianjin Medical University , Tianjin , China.
authors.forename: Cuiyu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: a School of Nursing , Tianjin Medical University , Tianjin , China.
authors.forename: Siqi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: a School of Nursing , Tianjin Medical University , Tianjin , China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
keywords: Acute esophagitis; Lung cancer; Predictors; Radiation esophagitis; Risk factors