Erythropoietin for cancer-associated malignant anemia: A meta-analysis

Department of Blood Transfusion Medicine, Linzi District People's Hospital, Binzhou Medical University, Zibo, Shandong 255400, P.R. China. Department of Blood Transfusion Medicine, Linzi District People's Hospital, Binzhou Medical University, Zibo, Shandong 255400, P.R. China. Medical Intensive Care Unit, PKU Care Luzhong Hospital, Zibo, Shandong 255400, P.R. China. Department of Internal Medicine, Linzi District People's Hospital, Binzhou Medical University, Zibo, Shandong 255400, P.R. China.

Molecular and Clinical Oncology. 2017;6((6)):925-930.
Abstract
The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of erythropoietin (EPO) for improving cancer-associated malignant anemia. A search was performed for randomized clinical trials, conducted according to the Cochrane manual, using electronic databases including PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and ClinicalTrails.gov up to 15 August 2015. A total of 6 eligible studies from 5 articles enrolling a total of 453 patients were entered into the current meta-analysis. Upon EPO treatment, there were significant differences in the change in hemoglobin (HB) levels compared with the placebo at short-term follow-up [mean difference (MD)=0.66; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.14-1.18; I2=Not applicable; P=0.01) and long-term follow-up (MD=0.10; 95% CI, 0.02-0.18; I2=Not applicable; P=0.01) under the random effects model. For changes in hematocrit (HCT) compared with the placebo, the results revealed there were significant differences at short-term follow-up (MD=2.47; 95% CI, 0.75-4.19; I2=Not applicable; P=0.005) and long-term follow-up (MD=7.60; 95% CI, 6.15-9.05; I2=Not applicable; P<0.00001) under the random effects model. Compared with the placebo in short-term follow-up under the fixed effects model with homogeneity, the result was a significant difference for the transfusion ratio [relative risk (RR)=0.81; 95% CI, 0.67- 0.97; I2=34%; P=0.02) and the transfusion requirements (MD=-0.45; 95% CI, -0.92, 0.03; I2=6%; P=0.07). Funnel plots did not detect any publication bias. These results suggest that EPO was beneficial to alleviate cancer-associated anemia and improve survival outcomes for patients with cancer.
Study details
Study Design : Systematic Review
Language : English
Credits : Bibliographic data from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine