Table 1. Baseline characteristics of the twenty-six studies included in the meta-analysis.
| Study | Year | Country | NOS | Treatment | Cancer Type | Sample Size | Mean Age(y) | Men(%) | Sample | High NLR Definition | Number of patients with “high” NLR | Survival Analysis | Hazard Ratios | Follow-up (median, mo) |
| Gomez | 2008 | UK | 6 | Resection | ICC | 26 | 55 | 8(31%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 5 | 12 | OS/DFS | Estimated | 23 |
| Gomez(2) | 2008 | UK | 7 | Curative Resection | HCC | 96 | 65 | 72(75%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 5 | 26 | OS/DFS | Reported in text | 30 |
| Halazun | 2009 | US | 6 | Transplantation | HCC | 150 | 57 | 119(79.3%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 5 | 13 | OS/DFS | Reported in text | 37 |
| Guo | 2009 | CN | 6 | Curative Resection | HCC | 91 | 31 | 76(83.5%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 2 | 49 | OS/DFS | Reported in text | NP |
| Li | 2011 | CN | 6 | Curative Resection | HCC | 197 | NP | 165(83.8%) | Cancer tissue | CD66b/CD8> = 90% | 178 | OS/DFS | Estimated | 29 |
| Huang | 2011 | CN | 5 | TACE | HCC | 145 | 49 | 80(55.2%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 3.3 | 59 | OS | Reported in text | 10 |
| Chen | 2011 | CN | 6 | Radiofrequency ablation | HCC | 158 | 66 | 95(60.1%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 2.4 | 81 | OS/DFS | Reported in text | 34 |
| Wang | 2011 | CN | 6 | Transplantation | HCC | 101 | 48 | 92(91.1%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 3 | 33 | OS/DFS | Reported in text | 34 |
| Bertuzzo | 2011 | IT | 6 | Transplantation | HCC | 219 | 57 | 186(84.9%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 5 | 23 | OS/DFS | Reported in text | 40 |
| Wang(2) | 2011 | CN | 5 | Transplantation | HCC | 76 | 48 | 71(93%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 2.5 | 37 | DFS | Reported in text | 35 |
| Kinoshita | 2012 | JP | 6 | Multiple Treatments | HCC | 150 | 72 | 106(70.7%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 5 | 15 | OS | Estimated | 18 |
| Pinato | 2012 | UK & IT | 6 | Multiple Treatments | HCC | 112 | 65 | 90(80.4%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 5 | 25 | OS | Reported in text | NP |
| Pinato(2) | 2012 | UK & IT | 6 | TACE | HCC | 54 | 63 | 40(74.1%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 5 | 9 | OS | Reported in text | NP |
| Li | 2012 | CN | 5 | Curative Resection | HCC | 82 | 58 | 68(82.9%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 5 | 15 | OS/DFS | Estimated | 48 |
| McNally | 2013 | US | 6 | TACE | HCC | 104 | 61 | 76(73.1%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 5 | 18 | OS | Estimated | NP |
| Mano | 2013 | JP | 6 | Resection | HCC | 958 | 67 | 689(71.9%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 2.81 | 238 | OS/DFS | Estimated | NP |
| Oh | 2013 | KR | 7 | TACE | HCC | 318 | 58 | 240(75.5%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 2.3 | 189 | OS | Reported in text | 13.9 |
| Yoshizumi | 2013 | JP | 6 | Transplantation | HCC | 104 | 58 | 63(60.6%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 4 | 21 | DFS | Reported in text | NP |
| Limaye | 2013 | US | 7 | Transplantation | HCC | 160 | 55 | 130(81.3%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 5 | 28 | OS/DFS | Reported in text | 38 |
| Motomura | 2013 | JP | 8 | Transplantation | HCC | 158 | 57 | 92(58.2%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 4 | 26 | OS/DFS | Estimated | 40 |
| Sullivan | 2013 | US | 6 | Multiple Treatments | HCC* | 75 | 61 | 57(76%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 5 | NP | OS | Reported in text | 12 |
| Fu | 2013 | CN | 7 | Curative Resection | HCC | 282 | 51 | 249(88.3%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 2 | 147 | OS/DFS | Reported in text | 29 |
| Dan | 2013 | CN | 6 | Radiofrequency ablation | HCC | 178 | 57 | 159(89.3%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 1.9 | 68 | OS/DFS | Reported in text | 53 |
| Lai | 2013 | BE | 6 | Transplantation | HCC | 146 | 58 | 116(79.5%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 5.4 | 30 | Intent-to-treat survival/DFS | Estimated | NP |
| Harimoto | 2013 | JP | 6 | Transplantation | HCC | 167 | NP | NP | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 4 | 26 | survival after recurrence | Estimated | NP |
| Li | 2013 | CN | 5 | TACE | HCC | 154 | 50 | 134(87%) | Peripheral Blood | NLR> = 2.5 | 69 | OS | Estimated | 15 |
*, included 3 ICC; NLR, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio; NOS, Newcastle–Ottawa Scale; NP, not reported; OS, overall survival; DFS, disease-free survival.