Xiaohua Li,1,* Guoxia Fu,1,* Chunrong Zhang,1,* Yu Wu,2 Hua Guo,1 Weiming Li,1 Xuefeng Zeng1 

1Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Sixth People’s Hospital of Chengdu, Chengdu, Sichuan, 61005, People’s Republic of China; 2West China School of Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Weiming Li; Xuefeng Zeng, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Sixth People’s Hospital of Chengdu, No. 16 Jianshe South Street, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, 610051, People’s Republic of China, Email Lwming1989@163.com; ZXFeng1616@163.com

Purpose: Investigate the efficacy of blood microRNAs (miRNAs) as diagnostic biomarkers for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
Patients and Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search in English and Chinese databases, selecting studies based on predetermined criteria. Diagnostic parameters like summarized sensitivity (SSEN), summarized specificity (SSPE), summarized positive likelihood ratio (SPLR), summarized negative likelihood ratio (SNLR), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and area under the curve (AUC) of the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curves were analyzed using a bivariate model. Each parameter was accompanied by a 95% confidence interval (CI).
Results: Eighteen high-quality studies were included. For diagnosing COPD with blood miRNAs, the SSEN was 0.83 (95% CI 0.76– 0.89), SSPE 0.76 (95% CI 0.70– 0.82), SPLR 3.50 (95% CI 2.66– 4.60), SNLR 0.22 (95% CI 0.15– 0.33), DOR 15.72 (95% CI 8.58– 28.77), and AUC 0.86 (95% CI 0.82– 0.88). In acute exacerbations, SSEN was 0.85 (95% CI 0.76– 0.91), SSPE 0.80 (95% CI 0.73– 0.86), SPLR 4.26 (95% CI 3.05– 5.95), SNLR 0.19 (95% CI 0.12– 0.30), DOR 22.29 (95% CI 11.47– 43.33), and AUC 0.89 (95% CI 0.86– 0.91).
Conclusion: Blood miRNAs demonstrate significant accuracy in diagnosing COPD, both in general and during acute exacerbations, suggesting their potential as reliable biomarkers.

Keywords: miRNAs, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, biomarker, meta-analysis, diagnosis