Table 1. MeSH search terms utilised in the search strategy.

1	“Nasopharyngeal carcinoma” [Topic] OR “Pharynx carcinoma” [Topic] AND “miRNA” [Topic]
2	“Nose and throat cancer” [Topic] AND “Epidemiology” [Topic]
3	“Prognosis” [Topic] OR “Survival” [Topic]
4	“Upregulation” [Topic] OR “Downregulation in NPC” [Topic] OR “Differential expression” [Topic] or “Deregulated miRNAs” [Topic]
5	“Meta-analysis study” [Topic] OR “Systematic review” [Topic] AND “NPC” [Topic]
6	“Follow up studies.” [Topic] OR “miRNA” [Topic]
7	“Prognosis” [Topic] OR “Survival outcome” [Topic] OR “Hazard Ratio” [Topic]
8	Treatment of NPC [Topic] OR “Prevalence” [Topic] AND “Worldwide” [Topic]
9	“Incidence” [Topic] AND “Risk factors” [Topic]
10	“Epstein bar virus” [Topic]