Table 7. Subgroup-analyses by stage of gastric cancer, study quality, sample size and country of patients.

		Sample Size			Test for Overall Effect		Test for Heterogeneity
Items	na	LTG	OTG	RR or WMD 95% CI	Z	P	I 2	P
Operative time
EGC	5	249	547	29.06 (4.32, 53.79)	2.30	0.021	94.0%	<0.001
AGC	3	338	418	39.93 (7.46, 72.41)	2.41	0.016	92.4%	<0.001
<8 scores	12	576	705	36.15 (19.99, 52.32)	4.38	<0.001	91.4%	<0.001
≥8 scores	5	379	653	68.38 (52.40, 84.37)	8.38	<0.001	70.4%	0.009
<50 cases	10	282	293	42.97 (21.69, 64.25)	3.96	<0.001	91.6%	<0.001
≥50 cases	7	673	1065	52.34 (29.69, 75.08)	4.51	<0.001	93.7%	<0.001
Western patients	3	71	58	28.02 (17.94, 38.09)	5.45	<0.001	<0.1%	0.627
Blood loss
EGC	4	149	199	−242.79 (−445.19, −40.39)	2.35	0.019	97.8%	<0.001
AGC	2	199	211	−169.87 (−195.48, −144.27)	13.00	<0.001	<0.1%	0.417
<8 scores	10	410	465	−189.98 (−291.10, −88.86)	3.68	<0.001	97.0%	<0.001
≥8 scores	4	279	305	−152.87 (−240.92, −64.82)	3.40	0.001	93.0%	<0.001
<50 cases	9	255	260	−240.34 (−320.75, −159.93)	5.86	<0.001	92.7%	<0.001
≥50 cases	5	434	510	−82.46 (−166.23, 1.31)	1.93	0.054	94.9%	<0.001
Western patients	3	71	58	−150.10 (−281.84, −18.37)	2.23	0.026	77.4%	0.012
Harvested lymph nodes
EGC	5	249	547	1.76 (−3.95, 7.46)	0.60	0.546	87.0%	<0.001
AGC	3	338	418	0.86 (−1.44, 3.16)	0.73	0.463	46.8%	0.152
<8 scores	11	538	683	1.75 (−1.72, 5.22)	0.99	0.323	79.6%	<0.001
≥8 scores	5	379	653	2.56 (0.52, 4.59)	2.46	0.014	<0.1%	0.640
<50 cases	9	244	271	3.44 (−0.38, 7.26)	1.76	0.078	71.6%	<0.001
≥50 cases	7	673	1065	1.15 (−1.06, 3.36)	1.02	0.308	43.9%	0.098
Western patients	2	33	36	0.56 (−6.16, 7.28)	0.16	0.870	42.0%	0.189
Proximal resection margin
EGC	2	163	475	−0.17 (−0.35, 0.01)	1.85	0.064	<0.1%	0.793
AGC	2	256	324	−0.04 (−0.97, 0.89)	0.09	0.932	64.3%	0.094
<8 scores	3	243	390	−0.04 (−0.32, 0.24)	0.29	0.769	37.4%	0.203
≥8 scores	2	217	465	−0.008 (−0.69, 0.67)	0.02	0.982	80.0%	0.025
<50 cases	1	41	56	/	/	/	/	/
≥50 cases	4	419	799	−0.19 (−0.69, 0.32)	0.74	0.462	67.9%	0.025
Western patients	0	/	/	/	/	/	/	/
Analgesic requirements
EGC	3	129	181	−1.87 (−2.84, −0.91)	3.80	<0.001	<0.1%	0.519
AGC	2	256	324	−2.50 (−2.75, −2.24)	19.26	<0.001	<0.1%	0.491
<8 scores	4	268	388	−1.83 (−2.77, −0.89)	3.81	<0.001	<0.1%	0.691
≥8 scores	2	147	161	−2.51 (−2.76, −2.26)	19.38	<0.001	<0.1%	0.219
<50 cases	3	98	96	−2.44 (−3.81, −1.07)	3.49	<0.001	32.4%	0.228
≥50 cases	3	419	451	−2.47 (−2.71, −2.22)	19.40	<0.001	<0.1%	0.390
Western patients	0	/	/	/	/	/	/	/
First flatus day
EGC	3	129	181	−0.58 (−1.04, −0.12)	2.49	0.013	65.1%	0.057
AGC	3	338	418	−1.10 (−1.78, −0.42)	3.17	0.002	93.6%	<0.001
<8 scores	10	518	665	−0.72 (−1.04, −0.41)	4.56	<0.001	85.7%	<0.001
≥8 scores	4	279	305	−0.94 (−1.64, −0.23)	2.61	0.009	91.6%	<0.001
<50 cases	8	224	253	−0.87 (−1.28, −0.45)	4.11	<0.001	78.5%	<0.001
≥50 cases	6	513	717	−0.73 (−1.22, −0.25)	2.97	0.003	94.5%	<0.001
Western patients	2	33	36	−1.75 (−2.33, −1.17)	5.89	<0.001	46.5%	0.172
First oral intake
EGC	2	83	146	−2.17 (−3.93, −0.41)	2.41	0.016	84.3%	0.012
AGC	2	256	324	−0.85 (−1.27, −0.43)	3.94	<0.001	14.7%	0.279
<8 scores	5	385	531	−1.30 (−2.23, −0.36)	2.71	0.007	82.4%	<0.001
≥8 scores	3	197	211	−0.91 (−1.25, −0.57)	5.28	<0.001	<0.1%	0.703
<50 cases	3	91	119	−1.58 (−2.63, −0.53)	2.95	0.003	86.2%	0.001
≥50 cases	5	491	623	−0.84 (−1.38, −0.30)	3.03	0.002	49.0%	0.098
Western patients	0	/	/	/	/	/	/	/
Postoperative hospital stay
EGC	5	249	547	−4.87 (−8.60, −1.14)	2.56	0.010	93.4%	<0.001
AGC	2	256	324	−3.23 (−3.77, −2.68)	11.64	<0.001	54.3%	0.139
<8 scores	11	538	683	−3.46 (−5.31, −1.62)	3.68	<0.001	88.6%	<0.001
≥8 scores	4	297	559	−3.26 (−3.79, −2.74)	12.23	<0.001	<0.1%	0.534
<50 cases	9	244	271	−4.65 (−6.52, −2.75)	4.80	<0.001	84.9%	<0.001
≥50 cases	6	591	971	−1.70 (−3.08, −0.31)	2.40	0.016	72.4%	0.003
Western patients	2	33	36	−4.16 (−5.48, −2.85)	6.21	<0.001	6.7%	0.300
Postoperative complications
EGC	4	229	538	0.94 (0.69, 1.28)	0.40	0.689	38.8%	0.179
AGC	3	338	418	0.50 (0.35, 0.73)	3.68	<0.001	<0.1%	0.523
<8 scores	11	556	686	0.78 (0.61, 0.99)	2.03	0.043	32.5%	0.139
≥8 scores	5	379	653	0.79 (0.61, 1.03)	1.78	0.076	46.6%	0.112
<50 cases	9	262	274	0.79 (0.55, 1.13)	1.30	0.192	3.2%	0.408
≥50 cases	7	673	1065	0.75 (0.54, 1.04)	1.72	0.085	57.3%	0.029
Western patients	3	71	58	0.84 (0.48, 1.47)	0.61	0.540	<0.1%	0.675
Hospital mortality
EGC	3	166	401	1.60 (0.27, 9.64)	0.51	0.609	<0.1%	0.665
AGC	2	221	301	0.23 (0.01, 4.70)	0.96	0.339	/	/
<8 scores	6	360	418	1.42 (0.31, 6.46)	0.46	0.649	<0.1%	0.674
≥8 scores	4	262	536	0.57 (0.11, 3.09)	0.65	0.513	<0.1%	0.392
<50 cases	5	129	133	1.10 (0.15, 8.09)	0.10	0.923	<0.1%	0.420
≥50 cases	5	493	821	0.88 (0.23, 3.28)	0.20	0.843	<0.1%	0.528
Western patients	3	71	58	0.44 (0.02, 9.69)	0.52	0.606	/	/

CI, confidence interval; LTG, laparoscopic total gastrectomy; OTG, open total gastrectomy; RR, relative risks; WMD, weighed mean difference; EGC, early gastric cancer; AGC; advanced gastric cancer; data in bold, significant P-value.

^aNumber of comparisons.