This meta-analysis was performed followed the Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. We registered this meta-analysis in the PROSPERO database (CRD42019131296).
Search strategy
A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Web of science. We used the following terms to search literature: “STEMI”,“UA”, “NSTEMI”, “lymphocyte to monocyte ratio”, “lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio”, “lymphocyte/monocyte ratio”, “monocyte/lymphocyte ratio”, “mortality”, “MACE” and “major adverse cardiac events”. The latest update was performed in April 15, 2020. We also screened the reference lists of all retrieved articles to identify other potentially relevant literature.
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Studies were included if they met all the following criteria: (1) articles were published as full-text in English; (2) patients with ACS (STEMI, UA, NSTEMI); (3) LMR (hazard ratio [HR], 95% confidence interval [CI]) was available; (4) the outcomes were associated with mortality or MACE. Articles were excluded if they met any of the following characteristics: (1) nonhuman studies; (2) duplicate studies; (3) absence of LMR or mortality/MACE. Two investigators (Xiao-Qing Quan and Run-Chang Wang) read the literature independently of each other. Disagreements solved by discussion with other investigators.
Data extraction and quality assessment
The following data were extracted: the first author, the country of patients, duration, the mean age, sample size of patients, LMR cut-off value, diseases of patients, HRs and 95% CIs and outcomes. The outcomes of studies included mortality (all-cause mortality) and MACE (including stroke/transient ischemic attack, target vessel revascularization, non-fatal MI, and cardiac death). The methodological quality of each study was evaluated with Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) system [20]. The maximum score is 9 and the study with a NOS score ≥ 6 was considered as a high-quality study.
Statistical analysis
All statistical analyses in the present study were conducted with STATA statistical software (version 13.1, Stata Corporation, College Station, TX, USA). We synthesized the HR and corresponding 95% CI to analysis of the relationship between LMR and mortality/MACCE. Between-study heterogeneity was assessed using Cochrane's Q and I² texts. I2 < 25% was regarded as low levels of heterogeneity. I2 value of 25% to 50% was regarded as moderate levels of heterogeneity. I2 > 50% was regarded as high levels of heterogeneity. A fixed-effects model was applied in the absence of significant heterogeneity (I2 ≤ 50%), or the random effect model was applied (I2 > 50%).