Prevalence of hand-foot syndrome following chemotherapy for colorectal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: To systematically evaluate the prevalence of hand-foot syndrome (HFS) in patients with colorectal cancer undergoing chemotherapy.

Methods: The PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were searched, from their inception to September 20, 2022, to identify studies on the prevalence of HFS in patients with colorectal cancer receiving chemotherapy. Comprehensive retrieval of literature was performed using the literature tracing method. We calculated the prevalence of HFS in patients with colorectal cancer undergoing chemotherapy based on meta-analyses. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression analyses were performed to determine the sources of heterogeneity.

Results: A total of 20 studies were included, involving 4773 cases. Meta-analysis of the random effects model showed that the total prevalence of HFS in patients with colorectal cancer undergoing chemotherapy was 49.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.332, 0.651). Subgroup analysis demonstrated that the most frequent grades of HFS were grades 1 and 2, accounting for 40.1% (95% CI: 0.285, 0.523) of cases; this rate was markedly higher than that of grades 3 and 4 (5.8%; 95% CI: 0.020, 0.112). The meta-regression results illustrated that the type of research, country of the study population, type of drug, and year of publication were not sources of heterogeneity in this setting (P > 0.05).

Conclusion: The present findings showed that the prevalence of HFS in patients with colorectal cancer receiving chemotherapy was high. Healthcare professionals should provide knowledge to such patients regarding the prevention and management of HFS.

Keywords: Colorectal neoplasms; Hand-foot syndrome; Meta-analysis; Prevalence; Systematic review.