Accuracy Evaluation of Circular RNA in Diagnosing Lung Cancer in a Chinese Population

Circular RNA (circRNA) is a class of recently discovered noncoding RNA. circRNAs can be used as a potent noninvasive biological marker of cancer owing to their varying expression levels among different cancers. This meta-analysis was performed to assess the accuracy of circRNAs in diagnosing lung cancer. A total of eight studies identified through searching the PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Embase from inception to March 20, 2019 were eligible for this meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratios, negative likelihood ratios, and diagnostic odds ratio were 0.77 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.73–0.80; I(2) = 8.98%), 0.76 (95% CI: 0.69–0.82; I(2) = 63.12%), 3.17 (95% CI: 2.43–4.14; I(2) = 33.18%), 0.31 (95% CI: 0.26–0.37; I(2) = 20.36%), and 10.26 (95% CI: 6.87–15.31; I(2) = 97.18%), respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.78 (95% CI: 0.74–0.81). The study confirmed the use of circRNAs in diagnosing lung cancer in a Chinese population.