Yongbo Wang , Xiaoxue Liu, Pengfei Yan, Yongyi Bi, Yu Liu and Zhi-Jiang Zhang* Pages 2595 - 2601 ( 7 )
Background: A number of observational studies examined the association between metformin therapy and ovarian cancer survival outcomes, but the results are inconsistent.
Objective: The study aimed to investigate the effect of metformin on survival for ovarian cancer patients.
Method: PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases were searched for relevant studies from the inception to June 11, 2019. The strength of the relationship was assessed using summary of hazard ratios (HRs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI). Statistical analyses were carried out using the random-effects model.
Results: Totally, 6 retrospective cohort studies involving 2,638 ovarian cancer patients were included. Metformin was not associated with improved overall survival (HR=0.78, 95% CI 0.54-1.12, P=0.175, I2= 61.6%) and disease- free survival (HR=0.49, 95% CI 0.20-1.17, P=0.106, I2=82.1%) in ovarian cancer patients compared to nonmetformin users.
Conclusion: The current study provides preliminary evidence that metformin may not be associated with a survival benefit for ovarian cancer patients. More studies with rigorous designs are needed.
Metformin, ovarian cancer, overall survival, diabetes mellitus, immortal time bias, statistical analyses.
Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, No. 185 Donghu Road, Wuhan 430071, Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, No. 185 Donghu Road, Wuhan 430071, Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, No. 185 Donghu Road, Wuhan 430071, Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, No. 185 Donghu Road, Wuhan 430071, Department of Statistics and Management, School of Management, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, 430205, Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, No. 185 Donghu Road, Wuhan 430071