Bowen's disease and internal malignancy. A meta-analysis.

Bowen's disease frequently has been reported to be associated with internal malignancy, although this association has been extremely controversial. The present study uses the technique of meta-analysis to address this issue by pooling the results of the 12 studies published in the English-language literature that previously have attempted to study this issue. The results indicated no significant association between the two conditions (chi square, 1 d.f., = 0.128, p greater than 0.05, 95% confidence interval = 0.105-0.1503). Clearly, no extensive investigation in patients having Bowen's disease is warranted.