Table 2.
Toxic (grade 3 or worse∗) effects in trials comparing capecitabine with 5-Fu.
| Toxicity | Number of trials | Number of cases | OR (95% CI) | Test of homogeneity | P value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape | 5-Fu | I 2 (%) | P value | ||||
| Lowered hemoglobin | 7 | 6/696 | 5/748 | 1.13 (0.36, 3.54)# | 24.6 | 0.27 | 0.83 |
| Lowered leucocytes | 7 | 7/696 | 31/748 | 0.24 (0.11, 0.54)# | 28.9 | 0.23 | 0.0005 |
| Lowered platelets | 6 | 0/658 | 4/699 | 0.30 (0.05, 1.88)# | 0 | 0.99 | 0.2 |
| Nausea | 6 | 10/906 | 4/905 | 2.30 (0.79, 6.70)# | 0 | 0.51 | 0.13 |
| Vomiting | 6 | 7/1038 | 2/1049 | 3.04 (0.72, 12.75)# | 0 | 0.66 | 0.13 |
| Diarrhea | 9 | 87/1204 | 95/1252 | 0.92 (0.67, 1.24)§ | 66.7 | 0.002 | 0.57 |
| Mucositis | 4 | 1/419 | 4/449 | 0.33 (0.05, 2.10)# | 0 | 0.64 | 0.24 |
| Hand-foot syndrome | 9 | 17/1204 | 3/1252 | 4.43 (1.59, 12.33)# | 0 | 0.48 | 0.004 |
| Radiation dermatitis | 7 | 26/972 | 32/1010 | 0.85 (0.51, 1.44)§ | 49.3 | 0.08 | 0.55 |
RR, risk ratio; cape, capecitabine; CI, confidence interval.
#Fixed-effect model.
§Random-effects model.
∗National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 4.0.