Table 2.

Meta-analysis of HRs from univariate survival analysis.

Outcome	Groups	Number of studies	Model	HR (95% CI)	I 2 (%)	Egger test
OS	All study	18	Fixed	1.32 [1.28–1.36]	0	0.156
	Tumor site
	Esophagus	2	Fixed	1.35 [1.22–1.49]	0
	Stomach	3	Fixed	1.27 [1.19–1.35]	0
	Colorectal	9	Fixed	1.33 [1.28–1.39]	0
	Liver	2	Fixed	1.67 [1.35–2.04]	0
	Pancreas	2	Fixed	1.27 [1.12–1.43]	0
	Anatomic structure
	GT	14	Fixed	1.32 [1.28–1.37]	0
	Non-GT	4	Fixed	1.35 [1.22–1.49]	44
	Stage
	NMS	9	Fixed	1.33 [1.28–1.39]	0
	Mixed	3	Fixed	1.28 [1.19–1.37]	0
	MS	6	Fixed	1.35 [1.25–1.45]	10
	Ethnicity
	Asian	13	Fixed	1.32 [1.28–1.37]	0
	Non-Asian	5	Fixed	1.33 [1.22–1.45]	0
	Cut-off value
	<3.0	8	Fixed	1.32 [1.27–1.39]	0
	≥3.0	10	Fixed	1.32 [1.25–1.39]	4
	Treatment
	With surgery	9	Fixed	1.32 [1.28–1.37]	0
	No surgery	3	Fixed	1.33 [1.22–1.45]	0
CSS	All study	6	Random	1.35 [1.20–1.50]	65	0.52
	Tumor site
	Colorectal	3	Fixed	1.32 [1.18–1.47]	29
	Anatomic structure
	GT	5	Fixed	1.39 [1.28–1.52]	24
	Stage
	Mixed	2	Random	1.27 [1.04–1.54]	70
	MS	3	Fixed	1.32 [1.18–1.47]	29
	Ethnicity
	Asian	3	Fixed	1.49 [1.35–1.64]	0
	Non-Asian	3	Fixed	1.21 [1.12–1.28]	12
	Cut-off value
	<3.0	3	Random	1.28 [1.11–1.49]	80
	≥3.0	3	Fixed	1.47 [1.27–1.69]	0
DFS/RFS	All study	13	Random	1.26 [1.18–1.33]	63	0.717
	Tumor site
	Stomach	2	Fixed	1.22 [1.12–1.33]	0
	Colorectal	7	Fixed	1.19 [1.11–1.28]	46
	Liver	2	Random	1.39 [1.14–1.69]	78
	Anatomic structure
	GT	10	Fixed	1.20 [1.18–1.25]	29
	Non-GT	3	Random	1.41 [1.23–1.61]	58
	Stage
	NMS	8	Fixed	1.22 [1.18–1.27]	46
	MS	4	Random	1.23 [1.03–1.49]	81
	Ethnicity
	Asian	9	Random	1.27 [1.18–1.35]	71
	Non-Asian	4	Fixed	1.23 [1.12–1.37]	32
	Cut-off value
	<3.0	5	Fixed	1.27 [1.20–1.32]	11
	≥3.0	8	Random	1.22 [1.12–1.33]	73

HR: hazard ratio; CI: confidence interval; OS: overall survival; CSS: cancer-specific survival; DFS: disease-free survival; RFS: recurrence-free survival; GT: gastrointestinal tract; NMS: nonmetastatic stage; MS: metastatic stage.