. 2022 Oct 5;3(4):e205. doi: 10.1097/AS9.0000000000000205

TABLE 3.

Results of Meta-regression-based Analyses of Possible Categorical and Continuous Moderators of the Difference in Overall and Breast Cancer-specific Survival Between BCS and Mx

Moderator	Outcome	K	Slope	95% CI	P	R ²
N+ (referent: N0)^*	OS	17	–0.01	–0.109 to 0.089	0.840	0.01
N+ (referent: N0)^*	BCSS	15	0.013	–0.039 to 0.065	0.623	0.00
Age ≥ 50 (referent: age < 50)	OS	11	0.082	–0.192 to 0.357	0.556	0.07
Age ≥ 50 (referent: age < 50)	BCSS	10	0.056	–0.098 to 0.210	0.478	0.19
Number of covariates adjusted for (range: 5–12)	OS	13	–0.011	–0.054 to 0.032	0.616	0.02
Number of covariates adjusted for (range: 5–12)	BCSS	14	–0.023	–0.049 to 0.003	0.080	0.32
North America (referent: Europe)	OS	12	–0.173	–0.351 to 0.005	0.057	0.25
North America (referent: Europe)	BCSS	12	–0.046	–0.149 to 0.057	0.379	0.00
Time-to-FU (months) (range: 43–138 months)	OS	9	–0.002	–0.005 to –0.000	0.027	0.40
Time-to-FU (months) (range: 43–138 months)	BCSS	10	–0.002	–0.005 to 0.001	0.186	0.26
High study quality (referent: low)	OS	13	0.332	0.152 to 0.512	<0.001	0.53
High study quality (referent: low)	BCSS	14	0.166	–0.056 to 0.388	0.142	0.10

* N0/N+ = lymph node-negative and lymph node-positive breast cancer.

Moderators with significant influence on survival are marked with bold P values.

BCS indicates breast-conserving surgery; BCSS, breast cancer-specific survival; Mx, mastectomy; Mx ± RT, mastectomy with or without radiotherapy; OS, overall survival.