From the pooled results (Table 3), it found that increased UCA1 was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (OR = 2.98, 95% CI: 2.06–4.30, P = 0.000), distant metastasis (OR = 3.14, 95% CI: 1.77–5.58, P = 0.000), and poor clinical stage (OR = 2.76, 95% CI: 2.08–3.68, P = 0.000). Here, UCA1 is linked to metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.