Prognostic Significance of Advanced Lung Cancer Inflammation Index, a Nutritional and Inflammation Index, in Patients With Gastrointestinal Cancers: A Meta-analysis

Abstract

Previous studies have investigated the prognostic value of the advanced lung cancer inflammation index (ALI) in gastrointestinal (GI) cancers; however, the results are controversial. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the prognostic and clinicopathological role of ALI in patients with GI cancers. A systematic search of electronic databases was conducted to evaluate the prognostic and clinicopathological value of ALI in GI cancers. Nine studies comprising 3,750 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that a low ALI was significantly associated with worse overall survival (OS, hazard ratio [HR] = 1.95, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.53–2.47, P < 0.001, I² = 63.9%) and disease-free survival/relapse-free survival (DFS/RFS, HR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.28–1.73, P < 0.001, I² = 0%) in patients with GI cancers. In addition, decreased ALI correlated with the depth of tumor invasion and presence of distant metastasis and tended to be associated with male sex, high carcinoembryonic antigen levels, lymph node metastasis, and right-sided colon cancer. Low ALI was associated with adverse OS and DFS/RFS in patients with GI cancer. In addition, decreased ALI also correlated with clinicopathological factors, indicating higher stage of the malignancy.

Authors’ Contributions

LS and JHL conceived the presented idea and designed the research. WJX, XL, and XZ searched databases and performed data analysis and statistical analysis. WJX, YGR, and YHL were responsible for writing the manuscript. JHL and PZ made significant contribution for revising the manuscript. All authors critically revised the article for important intellectual content and approved the final manuscript.

Data Availability Statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.

Disclosure Statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Government-funded clinical talent training project (No.361007). Practical Teaching Reform and Research Project of Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University (No.2021P001).