Association between Serum Tumour Necrosis Factor-α Concentrations and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) is an important pro-inflammatory cytokine and has been implicated to play a role in the systemic inflammation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the association between serum TNF-α concentration and COPD. PubMed and Embase were searched for eligible studies. Data were extracted and standard mean differences (SMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI)...