Diagnostic Value of Serum YKL-40 Level for Coronary Artery Disease: A Meta-Analysis

ObjectiveThis meta-analysis aimed to identify the value of serum YKL-40 level for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD). MethodsThrough searching the following electronic databases: the Cochrane Library Database (Issue 12, 2013), Web of Science (1945 approximate to 2013), PubMed (1966 approximate to 2013), CINAHL (1982 approximate to 2013), EMBASE (1980 approximate to 2013), and the Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM; 1982 approximate to 2013), related articles were determined without any language restrictions. STATA statistical software (Version 12.0, Stata Corporation, College Station, TX) was chosen to deal with statistical data. Standard mean difference (SMD) and its corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated. ResultsEleven clinical case-control studies that recruited 1,175 CAD patients and 1,261 healthy controls were selected for statistical analysis. The main findings of our meta-analysis showed that serum YKL-40 level in CAD patients was significantly higher than that in control subjects (SMD = 2.79, 95% CI = 1.73 approximate to 3.85, P < 0.001). Ethnicity-stratified analysis indicated a higher serum YKL-40 level in CAD patients than control subjects among China, Korea, and Denmark populations (China: SMD = 2.97, 95% CI = 1.21 approximate to 4.74, P = 0.001; Korea: SMD = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.17 approximate to 1.15, P = 0.008; Denmark: SMD = 1.85, 95% CI = 1.42 approximate to 2.29, P < 0.001; respectively), but not in Turkey (SMD = 4.52, 95% CI = -2.87 approximate to 11.91, P = 0.231). ConclusionThe present meta-analysis suggests that an elevated serum YKL-40 level may be used as a promising diagnostic tool for early identification of CAD.