Table 1. Characteristics of studies included in this meta-analysis.
| Author | Year | Country | Sample size | Sample type | Cancer type | Tumor size (cm) | TNM stage | Follow-up | Method | Outcome | HR statistics | Variance | NOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ≤3VS>3 | I/II Vs III/IV | (Month) | Analysis | ||||||||||
| He | 2015 | China | 94 | Tissue | Glioma | 30/64 | 23/71 | >50 | qRT-PCR | OS | Reported | Univariate | 8 |
| Guo | 2015 | China | 95 | Tissue | HCC | NA | 22/73 | >60 | qRT-PCR | OS | Survival curve | Univariate | 7 |
| Fu | 2016 | China | 140 | Tissue | GC | NA | 63/77 | 96 | qRT-PCR | OS | Reported | Multivariate | 8 |
| Sun | 2016 | China | 96 | Tissue | NSCLC | 41/55 | 28/68 | 41 | qRT-PCR | OS | Survival curve | Univariate | 8 |
| Li | 2015 | China | 239 | Tissue | CC | 82/157 | 92/147 | >60 | qRT-PCR | OS, DFS | Reported | Univariate | 8 |
| Wu | 2015 | China | 191 | Whole blood | CC | NA | 26/165 | 80 | qRT-PCR | OS | Reported | Multivariate | 8 |
| Chen | 2015 | China | 96 | Tissue | ESCC | NA | 35/61 | >60 | qRT-PCR | OS | Reported | Multivariate | 8 |
| Lu | 2015 | China | 71 | Tissue | NPC | NA | 36/35 | >40 | qRT-PCR | OS | Reported | Multivariate | 8 |
| Aderiaens | 2016 | Belgium | 58 | Tissue | OC | NA | NA | >60 | qRT-PCR | OS | Reported | Univariate | 8 |
| Huang | 2016 | China | 86 | Tissue | PC | NA | 56/32 | >50 | qRT-PCR | OS | Survival curve | Univariate | 7 |
| Peng | 2016 | China | 56 | Tissue | CC | NA | NA | 60 | qRT-PCR | OS | Survival curve | Multivariate | 7 |
| Chen | 2016 | China | 149 | Tissue | OC | NA | 53/96 | >60 | qRT-PCR | OS | Reported | Multivariate | 8 |
| Pan | 2015 | China | 125 | Tissue | NSCLC | 60/65 | 54/71 | >40 | qRT-PCR | OS | Survival curve | Univariate | 8 |
HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma; GC: gastric cancer; NSCLC: non-small cell lung cancer; CC: colorectal cancer; NPC: nasopharyngeal carcinoma; OC: ovarian cancer; PC: pancreatic cancer; ESCC: esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; NA: not available.