Fifty-four RCTs (n=7,599) were included.
All (survival; 52 studies): the pooled RD was 6.5% (95% CI: 3.1, 9.9) and the pooled OR was 1.37 (95% CI: 1.24, 1.5).
All (locoregional control; 43 studies): the pooled RD was 7.9% (95% CI: 1.9, 13.9) and the pooled OR was 1.44 (95% CI: 1.28, 1.63).
All (distant metastases; 29 studies): the pooled RD was -1.9% (95% CI: -4.8, 1.1) and the pooled OR was 0.79 (95% CI: 0.67, 0.93).
Platinum/5FU (survival; 8 studies): the pooled RD was 10.1% (95% CI: -4.7, 25.0) and the pooled OR was 1.56 (95% CI: 0.81, 2.99).
Neoadjuvant (survival; 28 studies): the pooled RD was 3.7% (95% CI: 0.9, 6.5) and the pooled OR was 1.2 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.35).
Synchronous single agent (16 studies): the pooled RD was 12.1% (95% CI 5.0, 19.0) and the pooled OR was 1.77 (95% CI: 1.51, 2.1).
The results were robust to the sensitivity analyses dealing with possible bias in data publication and extraction.