<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!DOCTYPE article  PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD Journal Publishing DTD v3.0 20080202//EN" "http://dtd.nlm.nih.gov/publishing/3.0/journalpublishing3.dtd"><article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" dtd-version="3.0" xml:lang="en" article-type="research article"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">ALC</journal-id><journal-title-group><journal-title>Advances in Lung Cancer</journal-title></journal-title-group><issn pub-type="epub">2169-2718</issn><publisher><publisher-name>Scientific Research Publishing</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.4236/alc.2024.131001</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">ALC-131741</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="heading"><subject>Articles</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="Discipline-v2"><subject>Medicine&amp;Healthcare</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>
 
 
  Epidemiology of EGFR Mutation in Adenocarcinoma NSCLC Patients in India: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
 
</article-title></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ankita</surname><given-names>Jain</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref><xref ref-type="corresp" rid="cor1"><sup>*</sup></xref></contrib><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kumar</surname><given-names>Prabhash</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref></contrib><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Venkatraman</surname><given-names>Radhakrishnan</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3"><sup>3</sup></xref></contrib><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Shashank</surname><given-names>Srinivasan</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref></contrib></contrib-group><aff id="aff1"><addr-line>Pfizer Products India Private Limited, Mumbai, India</addr-line></aff><aff id="aff2"><addr-line>Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India</addr-line></aff><aff id="aff3"><addr-line>Cancer Institute (W.I.A.), Chennai, India</addr-line></aff><pub-date pub-type="epub"><day>13</day><month>03</month><year>2024</year></pub-date><volume>13</volume><issue>01</issue><fpage>1</fpage><lpage>21</lpage><history><date date-type="received"><day>11,</day>	<month>December</month>	<year>2023</year></date><date date-type="rev-recd"><day>11,</day>	<month>March</month>	<year>2024</year>	</date><date date-type="accepted"><day>14,</day>	<month>March</month>	<year>2024</year></date></history><permissions><copyright-statement>&#169; Copyright  2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. </copyright-statement><copyright-year>2014</copyright-year><license><license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</license-p></license></permissions><abstract><p>
 
 
  Studies reporting the Indian prevalence of Epidermal Growth Factor Recep
  tor (EGFR) mutation
   
  are mostly single center
  s
   with small sample size
  s
  . Thi
  s systematic review and meta-analysis summarized the available evidence of EGFR mutation epidemiology in Indian patients with adenocarcinoma (ADC) Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). We conducted a structured literature search in PubMed, and EMBASE databases from January 2004 through October 2019.
   
  The primary outcome of interest was prevalence of EGFR mutation
   
  by gender, smoking status, and mutation subtype. The review included 34 studies. EGFR mutation prevalence was 39.5% in patients with ADC, and significantly higher in females, non-smokers, and patients with exon 19 deletions. The EGFR mutation frequency in Indian patients with ADC was higher than reported in Caucasians but at 
  a
   lower range of that reported in Eas
  t Asians. These findings support the use of EGFR mutation testing to guide choice of treatment.
 
</p></abstract><kwd-group><kwd>Epidemiology</kwd><kwd> Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor</kwd><kwd> Adenocarcinoma</kwd><kwd> Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer</kwd><kwd> India</kwd></kwd-group></article-meta></front><body><sec id="s1"><title>1. Introduction</title><p>Lung cancer is the predominant cause of the global cancer burden. As per GLOBOCAN 2020, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in men, with an incidence rate of 14.3% (1.4 million new cases) and a mortality rate of 21.5% (1.2 million deaths). In women, lung cancer is the third most common cancer, with an incidence rate of 8.4% (0.7 million new cases) and a mortality rate of 13.7% (0.6 million deaths) [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref1">1</xref>] . In the Indian scenario, the National Cancer Registry Program report published in 2020 predicted that 1 in 68 males in India would develop lung cancer during their lifetime. Further, lung cancer was projected to be among the 5 most common cancers in both sexes in 2020. Most lung cancer cases present in advanced stages in both sexes with 44% and 47.6% cases in males and females respectively being metastatic at presentation [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref2">2</xref>] .</p><p>Lung cancer is broadly categorized as Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) based on histology. Despite various advances in treatment strategies, lung cancer still has a poor prognosis, with a relatively low 5-year survival rate [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref3">3</xref>] .</p><p>Non-small cell lung cancer is further classified as Adenocarcinoma (ADC), squamous, and large cell carcinoma. Adenocarcinoma begins in the glandular tissue that forms the alveolar lining of the lung [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref4">4</xref>] .</p><p>Tobacco consumption is one of the most important risk factors for NSCLC [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref5">5</xref>] . However, ADC was a more common subtype among women and never smokers [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref6">6</xref>] . Molecular profiling of patients with NSCLC has revealed the presence of oncogenic driver mutations, which may drive carcinogenesis in more than 80% of the ADC cases, including Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) mutations [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref7">7</xref>] . Therefore, a better understanding of these oncogenic driver mutations, particularly EGFR mutations, will change the treatment landscape for NSCLC patients [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref8">8</xref>] . Epidermal growth factor, a cell surface receptor, regulates cell proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, adhesion, and motility through intracellular signaling and controls tumor progression [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref8">8</xref>] . Sensitizing EGFR mutations are the most common actionable driver mutations that may induce Tyrosine Kinase (TK) activation and phosphorylation of downstream pathways, resulting in aggravating cancer [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref9">9</xref>] [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref10">10</xref>] . In-frame deletions in exon 19 and point mutations in exon 21 (L858R) are the most common EGFR mutations [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref8">8</xref>] . Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs) are an important new class of molecularly targeted anti-cancer agents that block corresponding kinases from phosphorylating tyrosine residues of their substrates and then inhibit the activation of downstream signaling pathways involved in cancer proliferation, invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref11">11</xref>] . Use of TKIs against these EGFR-sensitizing mutations in advanced NSCLC patients as the first line of treatment can improve survival and quality of life [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref12">12</xref>] . Therefore, EGFR tumor genotyping acts as an essential guide in making treatment decisions regarding the use of EGFR TKIs in NSCLC patients. Mutation testing empowers patients with EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC of ADC histology to undergo personalized treatment with EGFR TKIs. Based on the tumor’s molecular characteristics, these TKIs directly act on EGFR oncogenes, resulting in improved treatment outcomes [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref7">7</xref>] .</p><p>Various epidemiological factors, such as race, sex, and age, affect the incidence of an oncogenic driver mutation. EGFR gene mutations are predominantly observed in women and non-smokers of East Asian ethnicity [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref13">13</xref>] . Further, the frequency of EGFR mutation was higher in East Asians (40% - 55%) compared to Caucasians (5% - 15%) [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref14">14</xref>] . These considerable variations in the prevalence and pathology of the disease at the global level indicate the need for regional research for a detailed appreciation of molecular epidemiology and clinical management. Therefore, genetic testing might be beneficial for countries like India, where genetic variability is common [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref15">15</xref>] . Few Indian studies have reported data regarding EGFR mutation in ADC NSCLC patients [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref7">7</xref>] [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref16">16</xref>] - [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref21">21</xref>] . However, information that would be helpful to policymakers and service providers is scarce. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis is aimed to assess the EGFR mutations epidemiology in ADC NSCLC patients in India and compare it with Caucasian and East Asian data.</p></sec><sec id="s2"><title>2. Methodology</title><sec id="s2_1"><title>2.1. Data Sources and Selection</title><p>A structured literature search was conducted in PubMed and EMBASE databases from January 2004 through October 2019 for articles reporting data on EGFR mutations in ADC NSCLC patients in India. Appropriate keywords and database-specific subject terms related to “epidemiology, non-small cell lung cancer, adenocarcinoma, epidermal growth factor receptor positivity, Indian population” were employed, along with suitable Boolean operators for the search. The literature search was restricted to only human studies. Further, relevant conference abstracts and papers, articles in the press, short surveys, and errata were also searched to identify the grey literature not captured by the formal searches.</p></sec><sec id="s2_2"><title>2.2. Study Selection</title><p>We included studies on EGFR mutations in ADC NSCLC patients from India, published in English from January 2004 to October 2019 for evidence synthesis. Studies with the non-Indian population, other cancer types, not specifying the type of NSCLC or not including ADC patients, reviews, meta-analyses, and studies not in scope (such as guidelines and in-vitro studies) were excluded. Duplicate publications were checked, and the validity of the article titles was verified. Abstracts and full texts were reviewed in-depth in the following phase. Two reviewers handled the study selection independently.</p></sec><sec id="s2_3"><title>2.3. Data Extraction</title><p>The data collected from each study included the following details: study title, the first author, journal, publication year, study design, study location, number of NSCLC patients (sample size), number of patients with an EGFR mutation, age, study period, diagnostic method, the prevalence of EGFR positivity in NSCLC and ADC, and different mutation subtypes (such as exon 19 deletions, exon 21 substitutions, exon 20, and exon 18 mutations). Two reviewers handled the data extraction independently, and any disagreements were resolved by a third reviewer to reach a consensus.</p></sec><sec id="s2_4"><title>2.4. Outcome Measure and Subgroup Variables</title><p>The primary outcome of interest in the review is the EGFR mutation and its prevalence determined using mutation testing by gender (male or female), smoking status (never or ever-smokers, according to the definitions of the original studies), and mutation subtype (exon 19 deletions or exon 21 substitutions).</p></sec><sec id="s2_5"><title>2.5. Data Analysis</title><p>Rev Man 5 software by Cochrane Collaboration was used to perform the random-effects meta-analysis using the Inverse variance method with a dichotomous data type to calculate the Odds Ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. Furthermore, subgroup analysis was performed according to gender (males/females), smoking status (smokers/non-smokers), and exon subtype (exon 19 deletion/exon 21 substitution). The random-effects model was used to consider the diversity and heterogeneity in the studies included in the review. The Cochran’s Q-test and the I<sup>2</sup> statistic were applied to evaluate the statistical heterogeneity among the studies and were considered significant at a p value ≤ 0.10 for the Cochran’s Q-test or an I<sup>2</sup> ≥ 50% for study heterogeneity [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref22">22</xref>] .</p></sec></sec><sec id="s3"><title>3. Results</title><p>A structured search from PubMed resulted in 268 articles; likewise, EMBASE search yielded 1326 articles. Supplementary search resulted in four articles resulting in a total of 1598 articles. After removing 176 duplicates, title, and abstract screening were performed on 1422 articles. After excluding 1367 records [country other than India (13), not in scope studies (1291), reviews/meta-analyses (14), and other cancer types (4)], 55 records met the criteria for full-text review. Among these 55 articles, 27 full text articles (lacking complete information regarding NSCLC, ADC) were excluded. Finally, 34 eligible studies were included in the qualitative and quantitative synthesis to understand the role of NGS-guided precision oncology in improving overall patient outcomes in advanced cancer. A PRISMA flow chart explaining the procedure to select the study is explained in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig1">Figure 1</xref>.</p><p>The general characteristics of the studies reporting EGFR positivity in ADC NSCLC patientsare summarized in <xref ref-type="table" rid="table1">Table 1</xref>. All the studies were observational, mostly retrospective (70.6%) and cross-sectional (14.7%) study designs. The median number of patients included in these studies was found to be 123, which ranged from 35 [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref23">23</xref>] to 3351 [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref24">24</xref>] .</p><p>Most of the studies were from the Northern part of India (35%), followed by studies from the South (20.6%) and Central India (20.6 %). The remaining studies were either from the East (5.8%), west (3%) or without regional details (14.7%). Six percent of the studies were multi-centric, while most (94%) were single-center studies.</p><sec id="s3_1"><title>3.1. Biases and Confounding Patient Characteristics</title><p>Information on age was available for 94% (32 out of 34) of studies and was primarily reported as medians (67.6%) and means (17.6%), while the rest was presented as the age range (8.8%) (<xref ref-type="table" rid="table1">Table 1</xref>). Gender-related information was available for 94% (32 out of 34) of studies (<xref ref-type="table" rid="table2">Table 2</xref>). Among these studies, females were 33%, and males constituted 67% of the study population. Smoking-related information was available for 79% of studies. Heterogeneous distribution of smoking patterns was observed amongst the studies, with the percentage of smokers varying from 14% [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref25">25</xref>] to 81% [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref21">21</xref>] and non-smokers varying from 15% [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref21">21</xref>] to 81% [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref26">26</xref>] . Among the 27 studies with information on smoking, 41% were smokers, and 54% were non-smokers (<xref ref-type="table" rid="table3">Table 3</xref>). Information regarding exon subtypes was available for 67.6% of studies. Among these studies, exon 19 deletion was predominant, varying from 45% [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref27">27</xref>] to 81% [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref28">28</xref>] [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref29">29</xref>] , followed by exon 21 substitution, varying from 15% [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref29">29</xref>] to 46% [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref16">16</xref>] among the EGFR-positive patients. The homogeneity of studies included in the review was assessed based on the detection methods of the EGFR mutation. Information on the techniques used for detecting the EGFR mutation was available for 97% of the studies, in which most of the studies used Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) (44%) and PCR (35.3%), followed by immunohistochemistry (14.7%) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (2.9%) (<xref ref-type="table" rid="table1">Table 1</xref>).</p><p>The screening of the studies followed by data extraction was performed by two reviewers independently, and a third reviewer was consulted to resolve the discrepancies to avoid selection bias.</p><table-wrap id="table1" ><label><xref ref-type="table" rid="table1">Table 1</xref></label><caption><title> Basic Characteristics of the included studies</title></caption><table><tbody><thead><tr><th align="center" valign="middle" >S. No.</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >First Author</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >Year of Study</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >Study Design</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >Region</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >Diagnostic Method</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >Median Age, Range (in Years)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >Total No. of Subjects, n</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >NSCLC, n (%)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >ADC Cases in NSCLC, n (%)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >EGFR Positive Cases in ADC, n (%)</th></tr></thead><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Samdariya et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref49">49</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2016</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Jodhpur, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >13 - 80</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >133</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >122 (92)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >37 (30)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >20 (54)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >2</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Rana et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref50">50</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2017</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Clinical and epidemiological study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Pune, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >PCR and gene sequencing</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >57.5 (25 - 86)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >152</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >152 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >135 (88.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >48 (35.5)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >3</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bal et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref28">28</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2016</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chandigarh, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >RT-PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >61.8 (mean)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >240</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >240 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >240 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >37 (15.4)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >4</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Verma et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref21">21</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2017</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective and prospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Lucknow, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >IHC</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >55.3 (Mean)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >69</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >69 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >18 (26.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >14 (77.8)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >5</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Doval et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref30">30</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2015</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Indian multi-centric (6 centres)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >FISH</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >58</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >500</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >500 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >500 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >164 (32.8)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >6</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Doval et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref51">51</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2017</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >New Delhi, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >60 (24 - 90)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >401</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >322 (80.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >196 (60.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >33* (22.8)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >7</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bhatt et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref52">52</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2013</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Vellore, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >55</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >154</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >106 (55)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >76 (72)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >42 (55.2)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >8</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Shankar et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref53">53</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2014</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chennai, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >IHC</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >&lt;40 to &gt;80</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >90</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >84 (93)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >46 (55)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >41 (89)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >9</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Singh et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref20">20</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2017</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >New Delhi, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >RT-PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >62</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >421</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >388 (92.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >223 (57.5)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >24** (20)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >10</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Ashutosh et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref36">36</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2016</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Cross-sectional</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >New Delhi, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >56.2 (Mean)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >102</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >102 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >102 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >21 (20.6)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >11</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Sahoo et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref54">54</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2011</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bangalore, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >RT-PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >59</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >220</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >220 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >176 (80)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >114 (64.7)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >12</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bala et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref29">29</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2016</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Hyderabad, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >RT-PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >58</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >353</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >353 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >250 (70.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >47# (35)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >13</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Jain et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref25">25</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2017</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >New Delhi, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Sanger sequencing and RT-PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >58</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >116</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >116 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >84 (72.4)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >17 (20.2)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >14</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Sharma et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref19">19</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2018</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chandigarh, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >61 - 80</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >61</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >61 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >48 (79)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >19 (39.6)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >15</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Udupa et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref35">35</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2015</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Cross-sectional</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chennai, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >RT-PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >55</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >85</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >85 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >85 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >34 (40)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >16</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chatterjee et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref17">17</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2016</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Cross-sectional</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Kolkata, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >PCR followed by bidirectional Sanger’s sequencing</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >58</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >224</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >224 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >214 (96)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >68 (31.7)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >17</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Vaid et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref27">27</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2013</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >North India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >61.5 (27 - 87)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >105</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >105 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >80 (76.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >22 (27.5)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >18</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chatterjee et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref16">16</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2017</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Kolkata, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >RT-PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >56 (42 - 72)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >108</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >106 (98)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >106 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >35 (33)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >19</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Ansari et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref55">55</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2017</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Case control study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >North India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >RT-PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >54.5 &#177; 11.5 (Mean &#177; SD)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >111</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >111 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >61 (55)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >14 (22.9)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >20</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Kota et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref56">56</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2015</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Hyderabad, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >RT-PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >56 (30 - 80)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >147</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >111 (75.5)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >95 (85.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >34 (35.8)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >21</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Singh et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref34">34</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2018</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >North India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >RT-PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >58</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >125</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >125 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >125 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >31 (24.8)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >22</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Gupta et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref57">57</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2019</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Prospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Hyderabad, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >58.2</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >64</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >64 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >51 (80)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >23 (45.1)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >23</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Noronha et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref33">33</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2017</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Mumbai, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >RT-PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >56 (49 - 62)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >580</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >580 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >580 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >227 (39.1)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >24</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Kasana et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref32">32</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2018</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Cross-sectional</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Jammu and Kashmir, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >56.9 (Mean)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >57</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >57 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >57 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >20 (35.1)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >25</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Choughule et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref18">18</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2013</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Mumbai, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1018</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1018 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >255 (25)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >255 (100)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >26</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bharadwaj et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref58">58</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2016</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >New Delhi, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >IHC</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >62.7 (42 - 79) (Mean)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >60</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >60</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >20 (33.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >18 (90)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >27</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Poonamalle et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref23">23</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2013</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >IHC</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >&gt; 50</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >35</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >35 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >26 (74.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >21 (80.7)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >28</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Dutt et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref24">24</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2014</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Cohort study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >57.9 (25 - 90)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >3351</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >3079 (92)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >3079 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >748<sup>##</sup> (28.2)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >29</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Prabhash et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref42">42</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2017</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Indian multicentric</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >RT-PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >57</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >301</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >252 (84)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >213 (84.5)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >59 (27.7)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >30</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Doval et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref31">31</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2013</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >New Delhi, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >60</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >166</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >166 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >166 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >43 (25.9)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >31</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Dang et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref59">59</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2013</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >IHC</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >149</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >149 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >63 (42)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >38*# (90)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >32</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chougule et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref41">41</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2013</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Mumbai, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >RT-PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Males 57, females 54</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >907</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >907 (100)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >780 (86)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >210 (26.9)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >33</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Noronha et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref26">26</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2013</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Retrospective study</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Mumbai, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >RT-PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >55</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >111</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >107 (96.4)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >39 (36.4)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >34</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Kumari et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref60">60</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2019</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Cross-sectional</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Lucknow, India</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >RT-PCR</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >60 (26 - 87)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >530</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >226 (90)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >169 (74.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >79 (46.7)</td></tr></tbody></table></table-wrap><p>NSCLC: Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer; ADC: Adenocarcinoma; EGFR: Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor; NR: Not Reported; PCR: Polymerase Chain Reaction; RT-PCR: Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; IHC: Immunohisto Chemistry; FISH: Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization. *EGFR positive/EGFR mutated, 33/145 (23%); **EGFR positive/EGFR mutated, 24/120 (24%); #EGFR positive/EGFR mutated, 47/134 (35%); ##EGFR positive/EGFR mutated, 748/2653 (28.2%); *#EGFR positive/EGFR mutated, 38/42 (90%).</p><table-wrap id="table2" ><label><xref ref-type="table" rid="table2">Table 2</xref></label><caption><title> Male-female distribution of lung cancer patients</title></caption><table><tbody><thead><tr><th align="center" valign="middle" >S. No.</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >First Author</th><th align="center" valign="middle"  colspan="2"  >Total No. of Subjects</th><th align="center" valign="middle"  colspan="2"  >EGFR-positive Subjects</th></tr></thead><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" ></td><td align="center" valign="middle" ></td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Females, n (%)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Males, n (%)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Females, n (%)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Males, n (%)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Samdariya et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref49">49</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >41 (31)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >92 (69)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >2</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Rana et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref50">50</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >60 (39.5)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >92 (60.5)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >23 (48)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >25 (52)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >3</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bal et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref28">28</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >18 (48.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >19 (51.4)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >4</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Verma et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref21">21</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >17 (24.64)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >52 (75.36)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >5 (35.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >9 (64.3)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >5</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Doval et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref30">30</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >163 (32.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >337 (67.4)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >68 (41.5)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >96 (59)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >6</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Doval et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref51">51</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >64 (19.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >258 (80.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >7</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bhatt et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref52">52</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >33 (31.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >73 (68.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >15 (35.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >27 (64.3)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >8</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Shankar et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref53">53</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >31 (37)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >53 (63)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >9</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Singh et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref20">20</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >90 (23.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >298 (76.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >18 (75)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >6 (25)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >10</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Ashutosh et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref36">36</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >40 (39)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >62 (61)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >11</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Sahoo et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref54">54</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >97 (44)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >123 (56)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >56 (49.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >58 (50.9)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >12</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bala et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref29">29</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >100 (28.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >253 (71.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >13</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Jain et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref25">25</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >30(36)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >54 (64)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >14</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Sharma et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref19">19</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >17 (35.4)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >31 (64.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >11 (57.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >8 (42.1)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >15</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Udupa et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref35">35</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >20 (24)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >65 (76)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >16</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chatterjee et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref17">17</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >54 (26)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >153 (74)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >36 (53.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >32 (46.3)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >17</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Vaid et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref27">27</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >22 (27.5)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >58 (72.5)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >18</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chatterjee et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref16">16</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >41 (38.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >65 (61.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >19 (54.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >16 (45.7)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >19</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Ansari et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref55">55</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >19 (31.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >42 (68.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >20</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Kota et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref56">56</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >50 (45)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >61 (55)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >22 (64.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >12 (35.3)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >21</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Singh et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref34">34</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >35 (28)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >90 (72)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >10 (32.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >21 (67.7)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >22</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Gupta et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref57">57</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >13 (27.5)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >35 (72.5)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >6 (26.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >17 (73.9)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >23</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Noronha et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref33">33</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >205 (35.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >375 (64.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >86 (37.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >141 (62.9)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >24</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Kasana et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref32">32</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >26 (46)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >31 (57)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >14 (70)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >6 (30)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >25</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Choughule et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref18">18</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >318 (31.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >700 (68.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >109 (44.5)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >146 (57.3)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >26</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bharadwaj et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref58">58</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >16 (26.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >44 (73)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >10 (55.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >8 (44.4)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >27</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Poonamalle et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref23">23</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >9 (25.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >26 (74.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >28</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Dutt et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref24">24</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1205 (36)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2146 (64)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >29</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Prabhash et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref42">42</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >83 (32.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >169 (67.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >27 (45.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >32 (54.2)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >30</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Doval et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref31">31</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >55 (33.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >111 (66.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >18 (41.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >25 (58.1)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >31</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Dang et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref59">59</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >32</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chougule et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref41">41</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >265 (29.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >642 (70.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >79 (37.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >131 (62.4)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >33</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Noronha et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref26">26</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >53 (47.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >58 (52.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >27 (69.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >12 (30.8)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >34</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Kumari et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref60">60</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >75 (30)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >175 (70)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >30 (37.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >49 (62.1)</td></tr></tbody></table></table-wrap><p>EGFR: Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor; NA: Not Available.</p><table-wrap id="table3" ><label><xref ref-type="table" rid="table3">Table 3</xref></label><caption><title> Distribution of NSCLC patients by smoking habits</title></caption><table><tbody><thead><tr><th align="center" valign="middle" >S. No.</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >First Author</th><th align="center" valign="middle"  colspan="3"  >Total No. of Subjects</th><th align="center" valign="middle"  colspan="3"  >EGFR-positive Subjects</th></tr></thead><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" ></td><td align="center" valign="middle" ></td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Smokers, n (%)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Non-smokers, n (%)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Others (Reformed, Former, Unknown)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Smokers, n (%)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Non-smokers, n (%)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Others (Reformed, Former, Unknown,)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Samdariya et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref49">49</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >81 (61)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >52 (39)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >2</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Rana et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref50">50</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >3</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bal et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref28">28</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >4</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Verma et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref21">21</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >56 (81.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >13 (18.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >5</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Doval et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref30">30</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >164 (32.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >250 (50)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Unknown 86 (17.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >29 (17.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >108 (43.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >27 (31.4)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >6</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Doval et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref51">51</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >167 (51.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >138 (42.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >7</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bhatt et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref52">52</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >35 (33.0)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >71 (67)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >7 (16.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >35 (83.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >8</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Shankar et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref53">53</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >9</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Singh et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref20">20</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >10</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Ashutosh et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref36">36</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >32 (31)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >40 (39)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Reformed 31 (30)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >11</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Sahoo et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref54">54</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >104 (47)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >116 (53)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >64 (56.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >50 (43.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >12</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bala et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref29">29</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >177 (50.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >176 (49.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >13</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Jain et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref25">25</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >12* (48)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >13* (52)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >14</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Sharma et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref19">19</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >24 (50)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >21 (44)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >4 (21.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >15 (78.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >15</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Udupa et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref35">35</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >39 (46)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >46 (54)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >16</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chatterjee et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref17">17</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >17</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Vaid et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref27">27</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >37 (46)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >43 (54)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >9 (41)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >13 (59)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >18</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chatterjee et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref16">16</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >28 (26.4)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >78 (73.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >5 (14.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >30 (85.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >19</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Ansari et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref55">55</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >23 (38)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >38 (62)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >20</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Kota et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref56">56</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >41 (37)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >70 (63)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >5 (14.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >29 (85.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >21</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Singh et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref34">34</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >86 (68.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >39 (31.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >19 (61.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >12 (38.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >22</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Gupta et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref57">57</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >23</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Noronha et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref33">33</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >231 (39.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >349 (60.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >59 (26)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >168 (74)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >24</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Kasana et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref32">32</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >32 (56.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >25 (43.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >7 (35)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >13 (65)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >25</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Choughule et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref18">18</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >382 (37.5)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >597 (58.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Unknown 6 (15)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >61 (25)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >188 (77)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >26</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bharadwaj et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref58">58</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >48 (80)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >12 (20)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Former 7 (11.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >7 (38.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >8 (44.4)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >3 (16.6)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >27</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Poonamalle et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref23">23</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >21 (60)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >14 (40)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >28</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Dutt et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref24">24</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >29</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Prabhash et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref42">42</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >88 (35)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >147 (58)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Former Smoker 69 (29.4)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >5 (9.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >45 (83.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >4 (7.4)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >30</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Doval et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref31">31</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >71 (43)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >95 (57)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Former Smoker 28 (16.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >4 (9.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >6 (21.4)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >33 (34.7)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >31</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Dang et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref59">59</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >32</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chougule et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref41">41</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >360 (39.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >516 (56.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Unknown 31 (3.4)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >55 (26.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >152 (72.4)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >3 (1.4)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >33</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Noronha et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref26">26</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >23 (21)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >88 (79.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >4 (10.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >35 (89.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >34</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Kumari et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref60">60</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >115 (46)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >135 (54)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >29 (36.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >50 (63)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr></tbody></table></table-wrap><p>EGFR: Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor; NA: Not Available. *Smoking data were available for 25 patients only.</p><table-wrap id="table4" ><label><xref ref-type="table" rid="table4">Table 4</xref></label><caption><title> Distribution of EGFR mutations in ADC NSCLC patients by mutation types</title></caption><table><tbody><thead><tr><th align="center" valign="middle" >S. No.</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >First Author</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >Exon 19, n (%)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >Exon 21, n (%)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >Exon 18, n (%)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >Exon 20, n (%)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >Combination, n (%)</th></tr></thead><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Samdariya et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref49">49</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >2</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Rana et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref50">50</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >34 (70.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >10 (20.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2 (4.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2 (4.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >3</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bal et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref28">28</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >30 (81)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >6 (16)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1 (3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >4</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Verma et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref21">21</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >5</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Doval et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref30">30</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >6</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Doval et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref51">51</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >7</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bhatt et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref52">52</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >32 (76.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >7 (16.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1 (2.4)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2 (4.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >8</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Shankar et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref53">53</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >9</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Singh et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref20">20</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >10</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Ashutosh et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref36">36</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >14 (67)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >5 (24)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1 (4.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1 (4.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >11</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Sahoo et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref54">54</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >59 (52)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >32 (28)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >9 (7.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >3 (3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >12</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bala et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref29">29</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >38 (80.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >7 (14.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2 (4.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >13</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Jain et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref25">25</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >10 (58.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >6 (35.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1 (6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >14</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Sharma et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref19">19</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >12 (63.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >6 (31.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1 (5.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >15</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Udupa et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref35">35</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >23 (68)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >6 (17.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1(2.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2 (6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2 (5.9)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >16</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chatterjee et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref17">17</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >42 (61.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >19 (27.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >17</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Vaid et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref27">27</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >10 (47)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >8 (36)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >18</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chatterjee et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref16">16</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >18 (51.4)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >16 (45.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2 (5.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >19</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Ansari et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref55">55</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >9 (64.4)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >4 (28.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >20</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Kota et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref56">56</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >24 (71)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >9 (26)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1 (3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >21</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Singh et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref34">34</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >21 (68)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >6 (19)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1 (3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >6 (19)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >22</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Gupta et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref57">57</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >23</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Noronha et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref33">33</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >143 (63)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >72 (31.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >12 (5.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >24</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Kasana et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref32">32</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >11 (55)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >6 (30)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >3 (15)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >25</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Choughule et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref18">18</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >135 (52.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >97 (38)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >15 (5.8)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >6 (2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2 (0.8)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >26</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Bharadwaj et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref58">58</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >11 (61.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >5 (27.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2 (11.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >27</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Poonamalle et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref23">23</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >28</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Dutt et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref24">24</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >29</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Prabhash et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref42">42</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >33 (55.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >23 (39)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1 (1.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >30</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Doval et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref31">31</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >22 (51.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >15 (34.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1 (2.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >2 (4.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >3 (7)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >31</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Dang et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref59">59</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >32</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Chougule et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref41">41</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >105 (50)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >86 (40.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >15 (7.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >4 (1.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >33</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Noronha et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref26">26</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >29 (74.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >9 (23.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1 (2.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >34</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Kumari et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref60">60</xref>]</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NA</td></tr></tbody></table></table-wrap><p>ADC: Adenocarcinoma; EGFR: Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor; NSCLC: Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.</p></sec><sec id="s3_2"><title>3.2. EGFR Mutation Frequency</title><p>The 34 studies included in the systematic review had 10,342 NSCLC patients, of which ADC was reported in 8463 patients. Adenocarcinoma in NSCLC patients ranged from 25% [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref18">18</xref>] to 100% in ten studies [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref16">16</xref>] [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref24">24</xref>] [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref28">28</xref>] [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref30">30</xref>] - [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref36">36</xref>] . Among the ADC patients, EGFR mutation prevalence was reported to be 39.5%, which varied from 10.8% [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref20">20</xref>] to 100% [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref18">18</xref>] among the studies. Moreover, information regarding the mutation subtype was available for 1416 subjects. The major mutation subtypes of ADC were exon 19 deletion (60.3%), which was followed by exon 21 substitution (32.5%), exon 18 mutation (4.4%), and exon 20 mutation (2.7%) (<xref ref-type="table" rid="table4">Table 4</xref>).</p></sec><sec id="s3_3"><title>3.3. Subgroup Analysis of EGFR Mutation</title><p>In this review, the influence of gender, smoking patterns, and exon subtype on EGFR mutation prevalencein ADC NSCLC patients was assessed using meta-analysis. EGFR mutation prevalence was higher in femalescompared to males (OR, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.79 - 2.87). The results indicated a significant effect of gender on EGFR mutation (p &lt; 0.00001). High heterogeneity (I<sup>2</sup> = 64%, p &lt; 0.0001) was indicated by the test results (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig2">Figure 2</xref>). Likewise, non-smokers had a significantly higher EGFR mutation prevalencethan smokers (OR, 2.58; 95% CI, 1.91 - 3.49), which emphasizes the positive association between non-smokers and EGFR mutations (p &lt; 0.00001). Substantial variation (I<sup>2</sup> = 71%, p &lt; 0&#183;00001) was observed in the studies included in the analysis (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig3">Figure 3</xref>).</p><p>In the case of exon subtypes, the prevalence of exon 19deletions was significantly higher than exon 21 substitutions (OR, 4.20; 95% CI, 2.98 - 5.92), which emphasizes the positive association between exon 19 deletions and EGFR mutations (p &lt; 0.00001). Moreover, substantial variation (I<sup>2</sup> = 75%, p &lt; 0&#183;00001) was observed in the studies included in the analysis (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig4">Figure 4</xref>).</p></sec></sec><sec id="s4"><title>4. Discussion</title><p>Globally, lung cancer is the commonest cause of cancer-related deaths in both genders [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref1">1</xref>] , with NSCLC constituting most cases. Moreover, advanced NSCLC has a poor prognosis with a low survival rate [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref12">12</xref>] [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref22">22</xref>] [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref37">37</xref>] [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref38">38</xref>] . However, research in the past two decades on oncogenic driver mutations, such as EGFR in ADC NSCLC patients, led to novel molecular targeted therapies, resulting in revolutionizing treatment strategies with improved efficacy and survival rate [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref39">39</xref>] .</p><p>Apart from smoking, other risk factors for lung cancers include passive smoke inhalation, household radon, occupational exposures, infection, and genetic variability, which increases the burden on minorities and socioeconomically challenged population [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref40">40</xref>] . Hence, in developing countries with substantial genetic variability like India, genetic testing of lung cancer can be considered beneficial in the treatment and management of lung cancer. However, most of the studies conducted in India to estimate EGFR mutations in ADC NSCLC are single-centered and might not estimate the true prevalence. Further, the small sample sizes and patients’ clinical selection result in overestimating the incidence rate [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref41">41</xref>] . Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to assess epidemiology and estimate EGFR mutations in ADC NSCLC patients in the Indian scenario. Further, the influence of gender, smoking pattern, and exon subtype was assessed, which can be major players in influencing the epidemiology of ADC NSCLC.</p><p>The current systematic review and meta-analysis included 34 Indian studies with 10,342 NSCLC patients, of which 8643 patients with ADC had 2659 EGFR-positive patients. Based on information available for gender, 3347 patients were found to be females and 6827 were males. According to smoking status, there were 2508 smokers and 3128 non-smokers. The overall prevalence of EGFR positivity was 25.9% (95% CI, 22.7 - 29.3) in NSCLC patients while it was 39.5% (95% CI, 32.1 - 47.1) in ADC patients. In the current study, the EGFR mutation prevalence in ADC NSCLC patients was variable based on gender, smoking pattern, and mutation subtype. Overall, EGFR positivity was significantly higher in females (females vs. males: 42.8 vs. 24.3%; OR, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.79 - 2.87), non-smokers (non-smokers vs. smokers: 39.8 vs. 21.3%; OR, 2.58; 95% CI, 1.91 - 3.49), and patients with exon 19 deletions subtype (exon 19 deletions vs. exon 21 substitutions (61.9 vs. 29.2%; OR, 4.20; 95% CI, 2.98 - 5.92) (<xref ref-type="table" rid="table5">Table 5</xref>).</p><table-wrap id="table5" ><label><xref ref-type="table" rid="table5">Table 5</xref></label><caption><title> Prevalence of EGFR positivity</title></caption><table><tbody><thead><tr><th align="center" valign="middle"  rowspan="2"  >Group Variables</th><th align="center" valign="middle"  rowspan="2"  >No. of Studies</th><th align="center" valign="middle"  rowspan="2"  >Prevalence of EGFR Positivity % (95% CI)</th><th align="center" valign="middle"  colspan="3"  >Tests of Heterogeneity</th></tr></thead><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >Q</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >p-value</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >I<sup>2</sup> (%)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >Overall NSCLC</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >34</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >25.9 (22.7 to 29.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >430.6</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >&lt;0.0001</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >92.3</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle"  colspan="6"  >Gender</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >Male</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >21</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >24.3 (19.3 to 29.7)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >252.5</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >&lt;0.0001</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >92.1</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >Female</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >21</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >42.8 (36.9 to 46.9)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >82.3</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >&lt;0.0001</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >75.7</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle"  colspan="6"  >Smoking Status</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >Smokers</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >17</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >21.2 (16.3 to 26.6)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >106.4</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >&lt;0.0001</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >85.0</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >Non-smokers</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >17</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >39.8 (35.5 to 44.3)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >71.6</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >&lt;0.0001</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >77.6</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle"  colspan="6"  >Histology</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >ADC</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >34</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >39.5 (32.1 to 47.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1442.2</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >&lt;0.0001</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >97.7</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle"  colspan="6"  >Exon Subtype</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >Exon 19</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >23</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >61.9 (57.6 to 66.2)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >53.8</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.0002</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >59.1</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >Exon 21</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >23</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >29.2 (25.5 to 33.1)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >47.1</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.0015</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >53.2</td></tr></tbody></table></table-wrap><p>In this review, the EGFR positivity was reported to be 39.5% in ADC NSCLC cases, which was found to be in line with the findings of an Indian multi-centric study that reported the EGFR mutation prevalence to be 33% in the ADC NSCLC patients [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref30">30</xref>] . EGFR mutation prevalence was reported as 23% by Choughule et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref18">18</xref>] Another Indian multi-centric study reported a varied prevalence of EGFR mutations in these patients ranging from 22% to 51.8% [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref42">42</xref>] . A prospective study by Shi et al. reported EGFR mutation frequency of 22% in Indian patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma compared to 51.4% in other Asian populations [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref43">43</xref>] .</p><p>Geographical location, ethnicity, and many other factors influence the mutation rate. The EGFR mutation rate among the Spanish NSCLC patients, consisting majorly Caucasians, was 11.6% [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref44">44</xref>] . Another study conducted in an unselected Caucasian population reported this rate to be 5% [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref45">45</xref>] . Melosky et al. in their meta-analysis, estimated EGFR mutation prevalence in NSCLC patients in Caucasians as 12.8% and 49.1% in East Asians [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref46">46</xref>] . A study by Kohno et al. also presented similar results where this rate was reported as 5% - 15% in Caucasians and 40% - 55% in East Asians [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref14">14</xref>] . A study conducted by Chougule et al. reported EGFR mutation incidencein NSCLC patients of Indian ethnicity o be intermediate (23%) compared to Caucasians (10% - 15%) and East Asians (27% - 62%) [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref41">41</xref>] . The current systematic review, however, indicates that the prevalence of EGFR mutations in India is 39.5%, which is higher than previously reported and is at the low range of the prevalence reported in East Asian ethnicity. Further, the variations in the EGFR prevalence among Asian countries highlight the genetic heterogeneity among Asians.</p><p>In the current review, females and non-smokers were found to have a higher EGFR mutation prevalence. A study with Moroccan patients has reported that women and never smokers had a considerably higher EGFR mutation rate [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref47">47</xref>] . Research also indicated that indoor air pollution and occupational exposures might have a larger influence on female lung cancer in the Asian sub-continent [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref40">40</xref>] . Other studies have reported similar findings of a significantly higher EGFR mutatiorateste in non-smokers as compared to smokers or ex-smokers [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref48">48</xref>] . The current review also reported a higher frequency of EGFR mutations in the exon 19 deletion subtype compared to exon 21 substitution. A similar finding was reported by a study where a higher frequency of EGFR mutations was detected in exon 19 deletions (69%) compared to exon 21 substitutions (21%) in the Moroccan patients [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref47">47</xref>] .</p><p>The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) recommend screening for EGFR mutations in all patients with non-squamous cell carcinoma that is advanced or metastatic NSCLC [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref22">22</xref>] . The limitations with standard chemotherapy encourage the testing of EGFR mutations, which may improve the overall prognosis by allowing patients to receive first-line EGFR-TKI treatment sooner.</p><p>This review has extensively screened studies to estimate EGFR mutations in ADC NSCLC patients in India. The meta-analysis used for subgroups revealed the risk associated with females, non-smokers, and exon 19 deletions subtype. Further, the review emphasized the need for regular genetic screening for EGFR mutations in ADC NSCLC patients. The findings of this review may provide first-hand information to researchers and policymakers regarding the accurate estimate of EGFR mutation prevalence in ADC NSCLC patients in India. However, considering the shortcomings, the findings of this systematic analysis should be interpreted with caution. Firstly, the small sample size observed in a few studies would reduce the detection power to estimate the true prevalence. Secondly, the limited data on gender, smoking status, age, and differences in the study settings may result in heterogeneity. Thirdly, most of the included studies are retrospective and cross-sectional. Despite the limitations, this systematic review enhances our knowledge of the prevalence of EGFR mutations in ADC NSCLC patients in India. It provides a comparative analysis of the Asian and Caucasian populations [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref14">14</xref>] [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.131741-ref46">46</xref>] . This review further highlights the need for information on EGFR mutation that may be immensely useful for treating Indian ADC NSCLC patients.</p></sec><sec id="s5"><title>5. Conclusions</title><p>This systematic review provides a precise estimate of the epidemiology of EGFR mutations in ADC NSCLC patients in India. Further, the frequency of EGFR mutations in the Indian population was found to be higher than in Caucasians but at a lower range of that reported in East Asians, emphasizing the genetic heterogeneity among Asians. The meta-analysis in the subgroup highlighted the association of female gender, non-smoking population, and exon 19 deletions with the higher incidence of EGFR mutations. These findings encourage the implementation of extensive regular testing in the advanced setting to enhance therapeutic outcomes for these individuals.</p><p>The results of this review should be taken into consideration while noting the limitations. More extensive studies or cooperative group registries are required to understand EGFR positivity rate, the patient profile of EGFR-positive patients, and its treatment outcome in Indian ADC NSCLC patients.</p></sec><sec id="s6"><title>6. Summary Points</title><p>1) Evidence concerning the epidemiology of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) mutations is beneficial in managing lung cancer. However, most studies reporting the prevalence of EGFR mutations in India are single-center studies with small sample sizes.</p><p>2) We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize the available evidence of the epidemiology of EGFR mutation in Indian patients with Adenocarcinoma (ADC) Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC).</p><p>3) Out of 1598 studies, 34 were included for evidence synthesis. All the studies were observational, mostly retrospective (70.6%) and cross-sectional (14.7%) study designs.</p><p>4) The 34 studies included in the review consisted of 10,342 NSCLC patients, of which 8643 patients with ADC had 2659 EGFR-positive patients. The overall prevalence of EGFR-positive mutations was 25.9% in NSCLC patients and 39.5% in ADC patients.</p><p>5) The prevalence of EGFR-positive mutations in ADC NSCLC patients was found to vary based on gender, smoking pattern, and exon subtype. Overall, the prevalence of EGFR mutation was reported to be higher in females (females vs. males: 42.8 vs. 24.3%; OR, 2.27, 95% CI, 1.79 - 2.87), non-smokers (non-smokers vs. smokers: 39.8 vs. 21.3%; OR, 2.58, 95% CI, 1.91 - 3.49), and exon 19 deletions (exon 19 deletions vs. exon 21 substitutions: 61.9 vs. 29.2%; OR, 4.20, 95% CI, 2.98 - 5.92).</p><p>6) The prevalence of EGFR mutations in ADC NSCLC patients in India (39.5%) was found to be higher than in Caucasians and at a lower range of that reported in East Asians (40% - 55%), highlighting the genetic heterogeneity among Asians.</p><p>7) Conclusions drawn from this systematic analysis should be interpreted with caution. All the included studies are observational; few had a small sample size. Limited data on gender, smoking status, age, and differences in the study settings might have resulted in heterogeneity.</p><p>8) This systematic review enhances our knowledge of the prevalence of EGFR mutations in ADC NSCLC patients in India despite the limitations. It provides a comparative analysis of the Asian and Caucasian populations.</p><p>9) This review further highlights the need for information on EGFR mutation that may be of immense use for treating Indian ADC NSCLC patients.</p></sec><sec id="s7"><title>Acknowledgements</title><p>Medical writing and editorial support were provided by Dr. Sivaprasad Mudili and Ruchira Das at Turacoz Healthcare Solutions (https://www.turacoz.com/) and was funded by Pfizer. Kumar Prabhash: Grants from Alkem Laboratories, Roche India Pvt Ltd, and Cadilla Pharma (all grants received towards research have gone to the employer). All authors have contributed to the manuscript in significant ways and have reviewed and agreed upon the contents of the manuscript.</p></sec><sec id="s8"><title>Conflicts of Interest</title><p>The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.</p></sec><sec id="s9"><title>Cite this paper</title><p>Jain, A., Prabhash, K., Radhakrishnan, V. and Srinivasan, S. (2024) Epidemiology of EGFR Mutation in Adenocarcinoma NSCLC Patients in India: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Advances in Lung Cancer, 13, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.4236/alc.2024.131001</p></sec></body><back><ref-list><title>References</title><ref id="scirp.131741-ref1"><label>1</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Sung, H., Ferlay, J., Siegel, R.L., Laversanne, M., Soerjomataram, I., Jemal, A. and Bray, F. (2021) Global Cancer Statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries. 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