Fig 2.

A. Forest plot of mortality in patients with AKI regarding early versus late initiating of RRT. Assessment for risk of bias. green = low risk of bias; yellow = uncertain risk of bias; red = high risk of bias. B. Sensitivity analysis of primary outcome of mortality. Single trial was excluded each time, however, pooled estimate and 95% CI had no significant changes. C. TSA on mortality in patients with AKI receiving early versus late initiating of RRT, which showed that the cumulative Z-curve did not cross either the conventional boundary for benefit or the trial sequential monitoring boundary for benefit. Therefore, it established insufficient and inconclusive evidence. The estimated required information size of 5185 patients was calculated using α = 0.05 (two-sided) and, β = 0.20 (power 80%), an anticipated relative risk reduction of 18%, and an event proportion of 41.4% in the late RRT group.