Table 4. Meta-analysis results for association between RET/PTC fusion genes and age in patients with PTC.

Young people vs. adult	No. of studies	No. of cases/controls	OR(95%CI)	P value	Model	I2	Pheta
For RET/PTC1 and 3
All	8	187/332	1.10(0.56,2.16)	0.783	Random	51.50%	0.044
Region
Asian	2	41/149	1.76(0.84,3.69)	0.133	Fixed	4.30%	0.307
Western	6	146/183	0.98(0.41,2.31)	0.956	Random	54.50%	0.052
Radiation
Radiation exposure	6	116/122	0.88(0.48,1.62)	0.682	Fixed	41.50%	0.129
Non-radiation exposure	5	71/200	1.46(0.81,2.65)	0.212	Fixed	33.90%	0.195
For RET/PTC1
All	6	172/286	0.98(0.60,1.58)	0.921	Fixed	7.20%	0.370
Region
Asian	2	41/149	1.33(0.61,2.91)	0.476	Fixed	0.00%	0.466
Western	4	131/137	0.81(0.44,1.50)	0.507	Fixed	21.40%	0.282
Radiation
Radiation exposure	5	107/109	0.52(0.26,1.05)	0.070	Fixed	49.30%	0.096
Non-radiation exposure	5	71/200	1.47(0.76,2.86)	0.250	Fixed	0.00%	0.574
For RET/PTC3
All	7	179/318	2.03(1.14,3.62)	0.017	Fixed	46.70%	0.081
Region
Asian	2	42/148	3.23(0.87,12.00)	0.080	Fixed	7.20%	0.299
Western	5	137/170	1.84(0.97,3.50)	0.206	Random	50.1%%	0.091
Radiation
Radiation exposure	5	107/109	2.35(1.01,5.49)	0.048	Fixed	0.00%	0.574
Non-radiation exposure	5	72/199	1.68(0.28,10.01)	0.570	Random	67.00%	0.028

^aP-value for heterogeneity test. The statistically significant results are highlighted in bold.