Table 6. Subgroup meta-analysis results of rtPA’s effect on neurological function deficit.
| Subgroups | No. of studies (animals) | SMDs (95% CI) | Within-group heterogeneity | Effect of subgroup | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chi2 within | p-value | %variance explaineda) | Chi2 between | p-value | %variance explainedb) | |||
| Species | ||||||||
| rat | 7 (159) | 0.16 (-0.16 to 0.47) | 5.66 | 0.46 | 0% | |||
| mouse | 5 (107) | -0.79 (-1.61 to 0.03) | 13.2 | 0.01 | 70% | 4.45 | 0.03 | 17.19% |
| Duration of ischemia | ||||||||
| permenant | 1 (16) | -0.17 (-1.15 to 0.82) | - | - | - | |||
| transient | 11 (250) | -0.12 (-0.57 to 0.32) | 25.86 | 0.00 | 61% | 0.01 | 0.93 | 0.04% |
| Timing of rtPA | ||||||||
| < = 180 min | 10 (232) | -0.20 (-0.68 to 0.28) | 24.87 | 0.00 | 64% | |||
| 180~270 min | 1 (16) | 0.21 (-0.81 to 1.23) | - | - | - | |||
| 270~360 min | 1 (18) | 0.23 (-0.70 to 1.16) | - | - | - | 0.97 | 0.62 | 3.75% |
| Dose of rtPA | ||||||||
| <10mg/kg | 2 (48) | 0.31 (-0.26 to 0.88) | 0.05 | 0.82 | 0% | |||
| 10mg/kg | 10 (218) | -0.23 (-0.71 to 0.25) | 23.26 | 0.00 | 61% | 2.02 | 0.16 | 7.81% |
| STAIR score | ||||||||
| < = 3 | 5 (107) | -0.69 (-1.52 to 0.14) | 12.53 | 0.01 | 68% | |||
| > = 4 | 7 (159) | 0.13 (-0.30 to 0.57) | 10.42 | 0.11 | 42% | 2.94 | 0.09 | 11.36% |
A positive value of SMD means that rtPA has deteriorated neurological function after ischemic stroke.
SMD, standardized means difference; CI, confidence interval; STAIR, Stroke Therapy Academic Industry Roundtable.
a) Percentage of variance within group explained by heterogeneity is given by I2.
b) Percentage of variance explained by moderator variable is given by Chi2 between/Chi2 total, where Chi2 total = 25.88.