Esophageal cancer (EC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Malnutrition often leads to poor prognosis of patients with EC. Geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) was reported as an objective nutrition-related risk index. We intend to comprehensively review evidence of GNRI in predicting EC prognosis. To explore the influence of GNRI on the long-term survival outcome of patients with EC, a meta-analysis was needed. We searched the Web of Science, Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases. The association between prognosis of patients with EC and GNRI was evaluated by pooling hazard ratios (HRs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The fixed model or random model method was chosen according to the heterogeneity among the studies. Totally, 11 studies with 1785 patients who met the inclusion criteria were eventually included in our meta-analysis. Comparing the lower level GNRI group and the higher level GNRI group, the pooled results showed that lower GNRI had a negative impact on overall survival (OS) (HR: 1.75, 95% CI: 1.45–2.10, P < 0.01) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) (HR: 1.77, 95% CI: 1.19–2.62, P < 0.01), indicating that lower GNRI significantly predicted poor OS. In conclusion, lower GNRI could predict the poor prognosis of patients with EC. Meanwhile, more well-designed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are needed to confirm the findings.
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