Table 1. Characteristics of studies included in our meta-analysis.
| Author | year | country | Mean age (year) |
stage | N | location | Median Follow-up (month) |
Cut-off value |
Method | Survival | HR estimated | NOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asgeirsson | 2000 | Iceland | 58 | NR | 108 | M, | 71 | 50% | IHC | DFS | HR | 9 |
| Yu | 2015 | China | NR | I-III | 169 | M, C | 63.5 | 165 | IHC | DFS, OS | Curves | 7 |
| Pedersen | 2002 | Norway | 55 | I-IV | 61 | M | 79 | 5% | IHC | OS | Curves | 7 |
| Siitonen | 1995 | Finland | 60 | I-IV | 109 | NR | 51 | 10% | IHC | DFS | A | 7 |
| Charpin | 1998 | France | 55 | I-III | 179 | M | 67 | 4% | IHC | OS | Curves | 8 |
| Kashiwagi | 2010 | Japan | 58 | I-III | 574 | M | 45.7 | 30% | IHC | DFS, OS | Curves | 7 |
| Wang | 2015 | China | 47 | I-III | 571 | M | 54 | Scores ≤ 99 | IHC | DFS, OS | A | 8 |
| Shi | 2015 | China | 51 | NR | 96 | M, C | 65.2 | 28% | IHC | OS | HR | 9 |
| Pang | 2013 | China | 46 | I-III | 170 | M | 75 | Scores ≤ 3 | IHC | DFS, OS | HR | 8 |
| Wang | 2014 | China | 54 | I-III | 29 | NR | 50 | 25% | IHC | DFS, OS | A | 8 |
| Liu | 2014 | china | 51 | NR | 100 | C | 65.4 | 28% | IHC | OS | HR | 8 |
| Yang | 2015 | China | NR | NR | 125 | M | 89 | Scores < 6 | IHC | DFS, OS | HR | 7 |
| Bankfalvi | 1999 | Germany | NR | I-IV | 55 | M | 7 | 75% | IHC | DFS, OS | Curves | 7 |
| Heimann | 2000 | America | 57 | NR | 168 | NR | 168 | 25% | IHC | DFS | HR | 9 |
| Pistelli | 2014 | Italy | 54 | I-III | 81 | M | 52.4 | 30% | IHC | DFS, OS | HR | 8 |
| Gillett | 2001 | UK | 53 | III | 470 | M, C | NR | Scores ≤ 1 | IHC | DFS, OS | A | 6 |
| Kim | 2010 | Korea | 49 | I-IV | 98 | M, C | 67.8 | 70% | IHC | OS | HR | 7 |
| Lipponen | 1994 | Finland | 57 | I-IV | 207 | M | 171.6 | 50% | IHC | OS | Curves | 6 |
| Zhou | 2016 | China | NR | I-IV | 119 | M, C | 60 | 10% | IHC | DFS, OS | Curves | 7 |
| Li | 2014 | China | NR | I-III | 250 | NR | 60 | Scores < 3 | IHC | DFS | HR | 7 |
| Park | 2007 | Norway | 54 | I-III | 196 | M | 40 | Scores ≤ 3 | IHC | DFS | Curves | 7 |
| Ricciardi | 2015 | Italy | 59 | I-IV | 45 | M | NR | 30% | IHC | OS | HR | 7 |
| Zhang | 2015 | China | 50 | I-III | 408 | NR | 16 | NR | IHC | DFS, OS | A | 7 |
| Rakha | 2005 | UK | 53 | I-III | 1516 | M | 56 | Scores ≤ 1 | IHC | DFS, OS | HR | 8 |
| Saadatmand | 2012 | Netherland | 57 | I-IV | 502 | M | 228 | 53% | IHC | DFS | HR | 8 |
| Szasz | 2011 | Hungary | 60 | I-III | 197 | M | 111 | NR | IHC | DFS | Curves | 6 |
| Brzozowska | 2012 | Poland | 58 | I-III | 89 | NR | 113.4 | 70% | IHC | DFS, OS | Curves | 7 |
| Yoshida | 2001 | Japan | 54 | I-IV | 171 | NR | 59.2 | Scores < 1 | IHC | DFS, OS | Curves | 7 |
| Eljuga | 2012 | Croatia | NR | I-III | 134 | M | NR | Scores ≤ 2 | IHC | OS | Curves | 7 |
| Kavgaci | 2010 | Turkey | 51 | I-III | 76 | M | 93.6 | 10% | IHC | DFS, OS | Curves | 8 |
| Lim | 2002 | Korea | 49 | I-III | 128 | M | 58.5 | 70% | IHC | OS | A | 8 |
| Kawahara | 1997 | Japan | 52 | I-IV | 98 | NR | 27 | Scores ≤ 4 | IHC | DFS | Curves | 7 |
| Liu | 2006 | China | 49 | I-III | 54 | M | 36.5 | 10% | IHC | OS | A | 6 |
NR, not reported; M, membrane; C, cytoplasm; IHC, immunohistochemistry; DFS, disease-free survival; OS, overall survival; HR: hazard ratio; Curves, extrapolated from Kaplan–Meier curves; A, calculated based on the available information; NOS, Newcastle–Ottawa Scale.