Pretreatment red blood cell distribution width may be a potential biomarker of prognosis in urologic cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Purpose: To demonstrate the prognostic value of pretreatment red blood cell distribution width (RDW) in patients with urological cancer. Methods: We searched the relevant literature on Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PubMed, Embase, Sinomed databases and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure up to 30 March 2022, to investigate the relationship between RDW levels and the prognosis of patients with urological tumors. Results: This study comprised 15 retrospective studies involving 9492 patients. Increased pretreatment RDW was associated with poorer overall survival (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.52; 95% CI: 1.27–1.82; p < 0.001), cancer-specific survival (HR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.15–1.57; p < 0.001) and progression-free survival (HR: 1.53; 95% CI: 1.26–1.86; p < 0.001). Conclusion: High pretreatment RDW might predict poor survival for patients with urologic cancers.