Table 3. Subgroup analyses for comparing postoperative urinary and anorectal functions between conventional and nerve sparing radical surgery for cervical cancer.

Category	No. of studies	SDM or OR	95% CI	Heterogeneity		Model used
				p-value	I2
DPC*
Study design
RCT	2	-1.907	-2.600 to -1.214	<0.001	93.268	Random effects
Prospective	4	-2.167	-3.524 to -0.810	<0.001	92.750	Random effects
Retrospective	6	-0.813	-1.330 to -0.296	<0.001	89.152	Random effects
Quality of study (NOS)
≥8	6	-1.002	-1.495 to -0.508	<0.001	88.011	Random effects
<8	4	-1.874	-3.331 to -0.418	<0.001	93.695	Random effects
Surgical approach
Laparotomy	7	-1.958	-2.914 to -1.003	<0.001	93.118	Random effects
Laparoscopy	4	-0.978	-1.586 to -0.370	<0.001	87.814	Random effects
Radicality
Type III or C	10	-1.622	-2.236 to -1.007	<0.001	91.472	Random effects
Postvoid residual urine not requiring DPC (mL)
<50	6	-2.178	-3.243 to -1.113	<0.001	93.632	Random effects
<100	5	-0.616	-0.805 to -0.428	0.001	77.275	Random effects
Adjustment for potential confounding factors
Age, extent of lymphadenectomy, FIGO stage	6	-0.982	-1.510 to -0.454	<0.001	86.496	Random effects
Age, extent of lymphadenectomy, FIGO stage, no. of resected LNs	2	-1.653	-1.989 to -1.318	0.786	<0.001	Fixed effect
Urinary incontinence†
Study design
Prospective	3	0.325	0.023 to 4.634	0.041	68.702	Random effects
Retrospective	5	0.592	0.403 to 0.869	0.103	48.005	Fixed effect
Quality of study (NOS)
≥8	4	0.519	0.242 to 1.117	0.105	51.099	Random effects
<8	3	0.750	0.121 to 4.639	0.057	65.199	Random effects
Radicality
Type III or C	7	0.509	0.230 to 1.128	0.050	52.390	Random effects
Follow-up for evaluating dysfunctions (mo)
6	2	0.214	0.018 to 2.507	0.090	65.272	Random effects
12	6	0.743	0.273 to 2.025	0.072	50.492	Random effects
Adjustment for potential confounding factors
Age, adjuvant treatment, FIGO stage	5	0.539	0.361 to 0.803	0.159	39.262	Fixed effect
Age, adjuvant treatment, extent of lymphadenectomy, FIGO stage	4	0.489	0.288 to 0.830	0.098	52.298	Random effects
Urinary frequency†
Surgical approach, radicality, and adjustment for potential confounding factors
Laparotomy, and type III or C, and age, adjuvant treatment, extent of lymphadenectomy, FIGO stage	2	0.269	0.914 to 0.568	0.342	<0.001	Fixed effect
Urinary retention†
Follow-up for evaluating dysfunctions (mo)
6	2	0.143	0.006 to 3.183	0.039	76.601	Random effects
Quality of study (NOS), and adjustment for potential confounding factors
≥8, and age, adjuvant treatment, extent of lymphadenectomy, FIGO stage	2	0.301	0.051 to 1.762	0.173	46.252	Fixed effect
Constipation†
Study design
Prospective	2	0.648	0.153 to 2.749	0.491	<0.001	Fixed effect
Retrospective	3	0.353	0.088 to 1.420	0.005	81.351	Random effects
Quality of study (NOS)
≥8	4	0.343	0.102 to 1.159	0.012	72.430	Random effects
Surgical approach
Laparotomy	3	0.457	0.106 to 1.965	0.005	81.459	Random effects
Radicality
Type III or C	4	0.426	0.140 to 1.292	0.011	73.119	Random effects
Follow-up for evaluating dysfunctions (mo)
12	4	0.765	0.426 to 1.371	0.519	<0.001	Fixed effect
Adjustment for potential confounding factors
Age, adjuvant treatment, FIGO stage	4	0.343	0.102 to 1.159	0.012	72.430	Random effects
Age, adjuvant treatment, extent of lymphadenectomy, FIGO stage	3	0.177	0.078 to 0.401	0.509	<0.001	Fixed effect

CI, confidence interval; DPC, duration of postoperative catheterization; FIGO, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics; LN, lymph node; NOS, the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale; RCT, randomized controlled trial.

^*SDM, standard difference in mean; ^†OR, odds ratio.