Planning an Oncology Systematic Review in the UAE: What the Evidence Covers and Where It Is Thin

Anyone planning an oncology systematic review in the UAE starts with two sources that do not agree, and both are correct. IARC’s GLOBOCAN 2024 estimates 8,815 new cancer cases and 3,814 deaths in the UAE, with breast, colorectal and thyroid cancer the most common [1]. The UAE National Cancer Registry’s 2023 report counts 7,098 new invasive cancers registered that year [2].

The gap reflects method, year and definitions, not an error. A review protocol should state which source frames the burden and why, because the choice changes the denominators used in any later comparison.

Before commissioning a new review, check what has been synthesised. A 2018 systematic review of cancer epidemiology in the UAE pulled together the published incidence and risk-factor literature [3], and a 2022 review described the state of cancer care in the country [4]. Both are useful baselines, and both are now several years old.

That points to the real gap. Epidemiology has been summarised, but evidence on cancer treatment patterns, survival and patient-reported cancer outcomes from UAE cohorts is far less often synthesised. An update or a narrower review on one cancer and one outcome is usually more useful than another broad overview.

Table 2 lists candidate questions for oncology research in the UAE. They are starting points for scoping, not confirmed cancer research priorities; a quick scoping search will show which have enough studies for evidence synthesis.

1. Frame the question. Set population, intervention or exposure, comparator and outcomes, and decide whether to include only UAE studies or the wider Gulf region.
2. Register a protocol before screening, so the scope cannot drift.
3. Run a systematic literature search in MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science, plus registry reports and regional journals.
4. Screen and extract in duplicate, recording cancer type, stage, nationality, treatment and follow-up, and report study selection with a PRISMA 2020 flow diagram [5].
5. Assess risk of bias with a tool matched to each study design.
6. Synthesise narratively or by meta-analysis, depending on how comparable the studies are.

Few published studies on a topic does not mean poor care. UAE oncology data also sit in hospital records, emirate-level registries and conference abstracts that a database search may miss. Report what the search covered, and treat each gap as a question to check rather than a finding. International trials remain relevant, but differences in demographics, access and treatment availability affect how far they apply.