Prevalence and management of pulmonary nodules: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Dan Chen; Liyun Yang; Wenhong Zhang; Jieyun Shen; Paul E Y Van Schil; Duilio Divisi; Nagarashee Seetharamu; Jie Gu

doi:10.21037/jtd-24-874

Prevalence and management of pulmonary nodules: a systematic review and meta-analysis

J Thorac Dis. 2024 Jul 30;16(7):4619-4632. doi: 10.21037/jtd-24-874. Epub 2024 Jul 24.

Authors

Dan Chen¹, Liyun Yang¹, Wenhong Zhang¹, Jieyun Shen², Paul E Y Van Schil³, Duilio Divisi⁴, Nagarashee Seetharamu⁵, Jie Gu¹

Affiliations

¹ International Medical Center, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
² Shanghai Universal Medical Imaging Diagnostic Center, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China.
³ Department of Thoracic and Vascular Surgery, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium.
⁴ Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila, Thoracic Surgery Unit, "Giuseppe Mazzini" Hospital of Teramo, Teramo, Italy.
⁵ Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Northwell Health Cancer Institute, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Lake Success, NY, USA.

Abstract

Background: Pulmonary nodules are small, focal lesions often identified via computed tomography (CT) scans. Although the majority are benign, a small percentage of them may be malignant or potentially become malignant, underscoring the importance of early detection and effective management. This study systematically reviews the epidemiology, risk factors, and management strategies for pulmonary nodules, comparing findings across Chinese and non-Chinese populations to better inform the actuarial calculations for predicting the demand of medical services for patients with pulmonary nodules.

Methods: We performed a systematic analysis of the PubMed and China Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases for studies reporting the detection rate of pulmonary nodules through CT scans. Both cross-sectional studies and the baseline data from longitudinal studies were included. A modified version of the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess the risk of bias and random effect models were used to estimate the overall prevalence.

Results: We identified 32 studies and included 24 of them in our meta-analysis. Pooled analysis showed that the overall prevalence of pulmonary nodules was 0.27 (95% confidence interval: 0.25-0.29) after outliers removal. Subgroup analysis showed that there was no significant difference for prevalence between Chinese and non-Chinese populations. Males (0.38) were shown to have slightly higher prevalence compared to females (0.36), but not significant (P=0.88). Age and smoking are the most frequently reported risk factors by studies.

Conclusions: Overall, 27% of participants were positive for pulmonary nodules. Advancing age and smoking were consistently identified as a key risk factor for the incidence of pulmonary nodules. Although the management strategies are different across studies, recent guidelines recommend personalized management strategies, prioritizing nodule size, characteristics, and individual risk factors to optimize outcomes.

Keywords: Pulmonary nodules; epidemiology; meta-analysis; public health.