Prognostic significance of preoperative serum albumin, albumin-to-globulin ratio, and prognostic nutritional index for patients with glioma: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: The serum albumin, albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR), and prognostic nutritional index (PNI) have been recommended to represent the nutritional and inflammatory status. Thus, they may be potential prognostic biomarkers for cancer. However, contradictory results were reported in different studies on glioma. The goal of this study was to perform a meta-analysis to re-evaluate their prognostic potential for glioma. METHODS: Databases of PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library were systematically searched to enroll all the studies investigating the prognostic significance of albumin, AGR, and PNI for glioma. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using STATA 13.0 software to indicate the intensity of association. RESULTS: Eleven studies with 2928 cases were included. Overall meta-analysis showed that the prognostic values of albumin, AGR, and PNI were limited for glioma (P > .05). However, subgroup analysis demonstrated a high preoperative serum albumin was significantly related with excellent OS of patients with GBM (HR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.91–0.99, P = .018), while high PNI (HR = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.43–0.73, P < .001) and AGR (HR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.34–0.96, P = .034) may be a protective factor of favorable OS for patients with high-grade gliomas. Furthermore, integration of all studies with multivariate analysis and clear cut-off also proved reduced preoperative serum albumin, AGR, and PNI were predictors of poor prognosis for patients with gliomas. CONCLUSION: Preoperative serum albumin, AGR, and PNI may represent promising biomarkers to predict the prognosis in patients with glioma, especially for high-grade.