Table 3.
Subgroup analysis for the association between elevated preoperative NLR and prognosis of HCC patients treated with LT.
| Study endpoints | Variables | Number of studies | Number of patients | HR (95% CI) | P value | Heterogeneity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I 2 (%) | P value | ||||||
| OS | Total | 7 | 1292 | 2.71 (1.91–3.83) | 0.000 | 65.6 | 0.008 |
| NLR range | |||||||
| 3.0–4.0 | 3 | 539 | 2.17 (1.41–3.34) | 0.000 | 71.6 | 0.030 | |
| 5.0–6.0 | 4 | 753 | 3.43 (2.14–5.49) | 0.000 | 40.7 | 0.168 | |
| LT types | |||||||
| LDLT | 3 | 532 | 3.79 (2.57–5.60) | 0.000 | 0.0 | 0.491 | |
| DDLT | 3 | 480 | 2.50 (1.43–4.37) | 0.001 | 71.1 | 0.031 | |
| Mixed | 1 | 280 | 1.70 (1.17–2.48) | 0.006 | — | — | |
|
| |||||||
| DFS | Total | 10 | 1687 | 3.61 (2.23–5.84) | 0.000 | 85.7 | 0.000 |
| NLR range | |||||||
| 3.0–4.0 | 6 | 934 | 2.36 (1.54–3.60) | 0.000 | 79.0 | 0.000 | |
| 5.0–6.0 | 4 | 753 | 7.13 (3.16–16.07) | 0.000 | 64.9 | 0.036 | |
| LT types | |||||||
| LDLT | 6 | 927 | 3.38 (1.65–6.94) | 0.001 | 84.0 | 0.000 | |
| DDLT | 3 | 480 | 6.19 (1.70–22.56) | 0.006 | 89.2 | 0.000 | |
| Mixed | 1 | 280 | 1.76 (1.22–2.53) | 0.002 | — | — | |
NLR, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; LT, liver transplantation; OS, overallsurvival; DFS, disease-free survival; LDLT, living donor liver transplantation; DDLT, deceased donor living transplantation; HR, hazard ratio; and CI, confidence interval.