Prognostic significance of preoperative prognostic nutritional index in ovarian cancer A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The prognostic significance of preoperative prognostic nutritional index (PNI) in ovarian cancer (OC) is uncertain, and this study is aimed to clarify the prognostic significance. Methods: We used 4 common databases for conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis, and eligible studies were included in the analysis. The association of preoperative PNI with overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and clinicopathological parameters was analyzed. Results: A total of 2050 patients with OC receiving the surgical treatment were analyzed in this study. Patients with low PNI tended to have a shorter OS (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.30-2.55,P < .01) and PFS (HR = 1.91, 95% CI = 1.53-2.39,P < .01) compared with those with high PNI. Besides, low PNI was significantly associated with more advanced International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage (P < .01), the occurrence of ascites (P < .01), larger residual tumor (P < .01), insensitive to chemotherapy (P < .01), and higher CA125 (P < .01) compared with high PNI in OC. Conclusion: Low preoperative PNI is associated with shorter OS, shorter PFS, and worse clinicopathological parameters in OC. Low preoperative PNI is an unfavorable prognostic indicator of patients with OC.