Prognostic value of the response to prednisone for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: To systematically review prednisone induced test results in the prognosis assessment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children.

Materials and methods: Based on the established inclusion and exclusion criteria, studies of prednisone induced test in evaluating the prognosis of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia were electronically searched from January 1990 to November 2016 using Pubmed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, WanFang, VIP, and CNKI database. Two independent researchers browsed literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of studies. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMen 5.3 software. A total of 17 articles were included.

Results: Meta-analysis showed that after complete prednisone induced test in children, 5y-EFS, 8y-EFS adverse reactions, persistent remission and relapse were statistically significant differences between the prednisone good response (PGR) and prednisone poor response (PPR). There were statistical significance in T cell immune typing and the initial WBC of the two groups. Prognosis of prednisone good response group is better than prednisone poor response group.

Conclusions: The prednisone induction test is an important factor in predicting the prognosis of children with ALL.