Biological sex disparity in survival outcomes following treatment for renal cell carcinoma: a systematic review protocol

Objective:This systematic review will assess the biological sex disparity in survival outcomes following treatment for renal cell carcinoma and analyze the estimates of biological sex disparity outcomes following supposed or proposed curative treatment.Introduction:Renal cell carcinoma is a type of kidney cancer. There is a lack of conformity in the literature on the biological sex disparity in survival outcomes after treatment. This review will help inform the decision-making of clinicians, health care administrators, policy makers, public health workers, and pharmaceutical/biotechnology researchers in predicting positive outcomes following treatment.Inclusion criteria:The review will consider prospective and retrospective studies on any form of treatment for renal cell carcinoma. The Cox proportional hazard assumption will be used to conduct survival analysis. Hazard rates of participants' survivability across biological sex will also be reported.Methods:A three-step search strategy will be used. First, a limited search of MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycINFO was conducted and text words in the title, abstract, and index terms were analyzed. Second, a search using identified keywords and index terms will be tailored for all included databases. Third, the reference lists of all included reports and articles will be screened to search for additional studies. There will be no language or date restrictions. Papers not written in English but with a professional translated copy will be included. Study screening, critical appraisal, and data extraction will be conducted independently by pairs of reviewers. Data synthesis will include narrative review and meta-analysis, if appropriate.Systematic review registration number:PROSPERO CRD42020195721.