Table 2.
Subgroup analysis for the prognostic impact of C-reactive protein/albumin ratio on overall survival in human malignancies
| Variables | No of studies | No of patients | HR (95% CI) | P-value | Heterogeneity
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I2 (%) | P-value | |||||
| Total | 25 | 12,097 | 1.99 (1.65–2.40) | 0.000 | 86.9 | 0.000 |
| Publication year | ||||||
| 2016–2017 | 18 | 9,165 | 1.93 (1.54–2.42) | 0.000 | 86.6 | 0.000 |
| 2014–2015 | 7 | 2,932 | 2.11 (1.56–2.84) | 0.000 | 81.6 | 0.000 |
| Country | ||||||
| China | 15 | 9,617 | 1.97 (1.66–2.34) | 0.000 | 75.3 | 0.000 |
| Others | 10 | 2,480 | 2.03 (1.38–2.97) | 0.000 | 86.4 | 0.000 |
| Sample size | ||||||
| ≥386 | 14 | 10,426 | 1.91 (1.64–2.24) | 0.000 | 63.5 | 0.001 |
| <386 | 11 | 1,671 | 2.10 (1.45–3.04) | 0.000 | 90.6 | 0.000 |
| Cut-off value for CAR | ||||||
| >0.095 | 12 | 4,146 | 2.00 (1.47–2.72) | 0.000 | 92.7 | 0.000 |
| ≤0.095 | 13 | 7,951 | 1.88 (1.57–2.25) | 0.000 | 51.5 | 0.016 |
| Cancer sites | ||||||
| Nasopharynx | 4 | 5,385 | 1.56 (1.25–1.94) | 0.000 | 35.8 | 0.197 |
| Esophagus | 2 | 891 | 1.84 (1.06–3.20) | 0.030 | 85.6 | 0.008 |
| Lung | 3 | 1,092 | 1.63 (1.24–2.15) | 0.046 | 45.4 | 0.160 |
| Stomach | 2 | 839 | 1.73 (1.31–2.28) | 0.000 | 0.0 | 0.388 |
| Liver | 2 | 364 | 2.73 (2.07–3.60) | 0.000 | 0.0 | 0.352 |
| Pancreas | 4 | 814 | 2.25 (1.52–3.34) | 0.000 | 69.8 | 0.019 |
| Colorectum | 4 | 1,567 | 1.64 (0.96–2.80) | 0.069 | 89.0 | 0.000 |
| Kidney | 2 | 976 | 2.69 (1.54–4.69) | 0.000 | 66.5 | 0.084 |
| Others | 2 | 169 | 3.22 (1.18–8.80) | 0.022 | 61.0 | 0.109 |
| Treatments | ||||||
| Resection | 16 | 5,802 | 2.08 (1.60–2.71) | 0.000 | 90.1 | 0.000 |
| Others | 9 | 6,295 | 1.82 (1.43–2.33) | 0.000 | 70.9 | 0.001 |
Abbreviations: HR, hazard ratio; CI, confidence interval; CAR, C-reactive protein/albumin ratio.