Background and aims: The albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR) has been used to predict severity and mortality in infectious diseases. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prognostic value of the AGR in COVID-19 patients. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted. We included observational studies assessing the association between the AGR values upon hospital admission and severity or all-cause mortality in COVID-19 patients. In the meta-analyses we used random effect models. Risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). The effect measures were expressed as mean difference (MD) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI). We performed Egger's test and funnel plots to assess the publication bias. Results: The included studies had a total of 11356 patients corresponding to 31 cohort studies. Severe COVID-19 patients had lower AGR values than non-severe CO...

Non-pharmacological interventions have shown to affect the symptoms of patients diagnosed with dementia. One of these interventions is animal-assisted therapy, which has been analyzed in multiple studies. However, the results of these interventions are mixed and no consensus has been reached. An electronic search was conducted in August 2021 in 4 databases (PubMed, Ovid Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science) to identify studies evaluating the role of animal-assisted therapy in patients diagnosed with dementia. The titles and abstracts of each article were independently analyzed. Subsequently, a full text of those articles that met the selection criteria was read. The narrative review was carried out based on the articles found. The effect of animal-assisted therapy on the psychiatric, psychological, and cognitive symptoms derived from dementia remains mixed and does not allow to draw speci...

Background and aims: The albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR) has been used to predict severity and mortality in infectious diseases. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prognostic value of the AGR in COVID-19 patients. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted. We included observational studies assessing the association between the AGR values upon hospital admission and severity or all-cause mortality in COVID-19 patients. In the meta-analyses we used random effect models. Risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). The effect measures were expressed as mean difference (MD) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI). We performed Egger's test and funnel plots to assess the publication bias. Results: The included studies had a total of 11356 patients corresponding to 31 cohort studies. Severe COVID-19 patients had lower AGR values than non-severe CO...

Introduction: A multicountry monkeypox disease (MPX) outbreak began in May 2022 in Europe, leading to the assessment as a potential Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on June 23, 2022. Some observational studies have partially characterised clinical features, hospitalisations, and deaths. However, no systematic reviews of this MPX outbreak have been published. Methods: We performed a systematic review with meta-analysis, using five databases to assess clinical features, hospitalisations, complications and deaths of MPX confirmed or probable cases. Observational studies, case reports and case series, were included. We performed a random-effects model meta-analysis to calculate the pooled prevalence and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). In addition, we carried out a subgroup analysis according to the continents and a sensitivity analysis excluding studies classified a...

Introducción : El cáncer testicular es la neoplasia maligna sólida más común en pacientes jóvenes entre 15 y 44 años , con tendencia al alza durante la última década. Objetivo : Evaluar los valores del índice Neutrófilo-Linfocito (INL) en la supervivencia de pacientes diagnosticados con cáncer testicular. Materiales y Métodos : Metanálisis de modelo de efectos aleatorios evaluando la supervivencia general y la supervivencia libre de progresión , cumpliendo 6 estudios con los criterios de inclusión. Resultados : Se incluyeron 6 estudios , de los cuales se obtuvo una población total de 1315 . Se evaluó los niveles altos del INL , los cuales se asociaron a una menor supervivencia general (HR: 1.75;IC del 95%: 1,04 - 2,92, I2 : 65%). Conclusión : Se encontró asociación entre niveles elevados de INL y menor supervivencia general , a pesar de esto se determinó que este re...

Background: The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a biomarker in inflammatory processes associated with multiple unfavorable outcomes in various diseases. This study aims to evaluate the association between NLR values and survival outcomes in patients diagnosed with testicular cancer. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in 6 electronic databases to retrieve studies evaluating NLR in patients with testicular cancer. The outcomes sought were overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), and the effect measures were hazard ratio (HR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). A random effects model was used for the meta-analysis. The risk of bias included in the studies was assessed according to the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale criteria. Egger test and Trim-and-fill method were used to test the publication bias among articles. Results: Six cohort studies (n= 1315) were evalu...

Background: The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a biomarker in inflammatory processes associated with multiple unfavorable outcomes in various diseases. This study aims to evaluate the association between NLR values and survival outcomes in patients diagnosed with testicular cancer. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in 6 electronic databases to retrieve studies evaluating NLR in patients with testicular cancer. The outcomes sought were overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), and the effect measures were hazard ratio (HR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). A random effects model was used for the meta-analysis. The risk of bias included in the studies was assessed according to the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale criteria. Egger test and Trim-and-fill method were used to test the publication bias among articles. Results: Six cohort studies (n= 1315) were eval...

Introduction: Vaccination represents an important strategy to mitigate COVID-19 related morbidity and mortality by protecting against severe forms of the disease and reducing hospitalization and death rates. In this sense, the objective of this study is to estimate the prevalence of Vaccination Intention (VI) against COVID-19 in Latin America and Caribbean (LAC). Methods: We conducted a systematic review with a comprehensive search strategy for the following databases: PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science. A random-effect model meta-analysis was carried out using observational studies assessing the intention to vaccines against COVID-19 in LAC countries. The Clopper-Pearson method was used to estimate 95% Confidence Intervals. The quality assessment was developed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale adapted for cross-sectional studies. A subgroup analysis by study location and a sensitivity ana...

C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio (CAR) is an independent risk factor in cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and infectious diseases. Through this study, we investigated the CAR values with respect to the severity and mortality of COVID-19 patients. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to retrieve studies that evaluated CAR values upon hospital admission in relation to the severity or mortality of COVID-19 patients. We adopted a random-effect model to calculate the pooled mean difference (MD) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI). Quality assessment was appraised using a Newcastle–Ottawa scale and publication bias was assessed using the Begg-test and funnel plot. We equally performed a subgroup analysis using study location and a sensitivity analysis only with studies with low risk of bias. We analyzed 32 studies (n = 12445). Severe COVID-19 patients had higher on-admiss...

Background and Aims. Biomarkers are necessary to stratify the risk of diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the association between the lipid profile and apolipoproteins with the risk of DFU. Methods. A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science among adult patients. Cohort and case-control studies were included. Random-effects models were used for meta-analyses, and the effects were expressed as odds ratio (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We evaluated publication bias through Egger's test and funnel plot. Results. A total of 12 cohort studies and 26 case-control studies were included, with 17076 patients. We found that the higher values of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides, and lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) were associated with a higher risk of develop...

The systemic immune-inflammation index (SIII) is a marker studied in multiple types of urologic cancer. This systematic review evaluates the association between SIII values with overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in testicular cancer. We searched observational studies in five databases. The quantitative synthesis was performed using a random-effects model. The risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS). The only measure of the effect was the hazard ratio (HR). A sensitivity analysis was performed according to the risk of bias in the studies. There were 833 participants in a total of 6 cohorts. We found that high SIII values were associated with worse OS (HR = 3.28; 95% CI 1.3–8.9; p < 0.001; I2 = 78) and PFS (HR = 3.9; 95% CI 2.53–6.02; p < 0.001; I2 = 0). No indication of small study effects was found in the association between SIII val...

Introduction: Toxocariasis is an infection caused in canines, felines, humans, and other vertebrates by species of the genus Toxocara, such as T. canis and T. cati. The embryonated eggs of these parasites are the main form of acquisition of the infection both for definitive hosts, such as the dog and the cat, respectively and for paratenic hosts, such as humans and other vertebrates. Toxocariasis infection in humans causes visceral larva migrans syndrome. When deposited on park soils, environmental contamination becomes a risk for environmental, human, and animal health. Objective: To systemically estimate the prevalence of Toxocara spp. eggs in park soils in Latin America. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to evaluate the prevalence of Toxocara eggs in park soils in Latin America, defined by copro-parasitological, molecular and immunological techniques. We se...

Fibrinogen-to-albumin ratio (FAR) and blood urea nitrogen-to-albumin ratio (BAR) are inflammatory biomarkers that have been associated with clinical outcomes of multiple diseases. The objective of this study is to evaluate the association of these biomarkers with the severity and mortality of COVID-19 patients. A systematic search was performed in five databases. Observational studies that reported the association between FAR and BAR values with the severity and mortality of COVID-19 patients were included. Random-effects models were used for meta-analyses, and effects were expressed as Odds Ratio (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI). Publication bias was assessed using the Begg test, while the quality assessment was assessed using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale. A total of 21 studies (n = 7949) were included. High FAR values were associated with a higher risk of severity (OR: 2.41; ...