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Abstract
Objective. To assess the association between interleukin-18 (IL-18) and pulmonary sarcoidosis. Materials and methods. The Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases were searched to identify relevant studies. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they enrolled newly-diagnosed, untreated pulmonary sarcoidosis patients with IL-18 measurement in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) or blood. A randomized effects model was used to pool six relevant studies. Results. The IL-18 levels of BALF and blood in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis were significantly higher than those in control subjects (p = 0.0001, p = 0.04, respectively). Conclusion. This meta-analysis has observed some evidence showing that the published results from these studies indicated the statistically significant association between IL-18 and pulmonary sarcoidosis.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.