Association between Cryptosporidium infection and cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Publication date: Available online 28 August 2019Source: Parasitology InternationalAuthor(s): Narges Kalantari, Tahmineh Gorgani-Firouzjaee, Salman Ghaffari, Masomeh Bayani, Taraneh Ghaffari, Mohammad ChehraziAbstractThe link between cryptosporidiosis and cancer has been suggested by some epidemiological studies. This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to further understand this relationship. In the current study, six electronic databases were reviewed for Cryptosporidium infection in cancer patients. We used random effects model and 95% confidence intervals (CI) to determine the overall odds ratio (OR). Heterogeneity was calculated with Cochran's Q test and I2statistic. In total, 19 studies involving 3562 individuals with case-control (nine) and cross-sectional (ten) designs were included in our project. The pooled overall random effect favored a statistically significant increased risk of Cryptosporidium infection in cancer patients compared with non-cancer individuals [OR = 3.3; 95% CI: 2.18–4.98]. The overall heterogeneity was medium (χ2 = 25.77; I2 = 30.2%, P = .11). The pooled ORs in case-control and cross-sectional studies were [OR = 5.60; 95% CI: 3.43–9.13; χ2 = 5.51; I2 = 0.00%, P = .70] and [OR = 2.08; 95% CI: 1.18–3.67; χ2 = 13.69; I2 = 34.3, P = .13], respectively. T-value and P-value were 0.54 and 0.57 based on the results of Harbord's modified's regression test. In summary, this meta-analysi...
Source: Parasitology International - Category: Parasitology Source Type: research