Table 1.

Baseline characteristics and quality assessment of included studies

	General information								NOS score
Author	Study design	Publish year	Country of enrolment	Neoadjuvant chemotherapy protocal	Total patients	Mean age (year)	Tumor size	Follow-up time (month)	Selection	Comparability	Outcome	Total score
Beriwal [24]	RS	2006	USA	CMF or AC or CAF or ACT in unclear cycle and interval time	153	52	T I,II,III,IV	60	3	1	2	6
Bonadonna [20]	CT	2002	Italy	Single-agent E 3 cycles every 3 weeks	317	49	T II,III	60	3	2	2	7
Caudle [19]	RS	2012	USA	Anthracycline-based or taxane-based or a combination of the two	595	51	T I,II,III,IV	64	3	1	2	6
Cho [22]	RS	2013	Korea	Unclear	431	49	T IV	46	2	1	2	5
Criscitiello [28]	RCT	2013	Spain	Paclitaxel with HER2-targeted therapy	455	NA	T II,III,IV	NA	3	2	2	7
Fastner [17]	RCT	2014	UAS	ED-based 3–6 cycles	107	48	T II,III	59	4	2	3	9
Jimbo [21]	RS	2015	Japan	4 cycles of AC or FEC followed by weekly T	315	50	T I,II,III,IV	61	3	1	2	6
Massidda [15]	CT	2007	Italy	PEV 6 cycles every 2 weeks	40	48	T IV	84	3	1	2	6
McIntosh [18]	RS	2003	England	CVAP* 4 or 6 cycles every 3 weeks	166	51	T II,III,IV	62	2	1	2	5
Noh [25]	RS	2014	Korea	AT or AC or T	260	46	T I,II,III,IV	66	2	1	2	5
Rouzier [10]	RS	2001	France	FAC or CMF or CTF or CE 4 cycles every 4 weeks	257	47	T I,II,III	93	3	1	2	6
Rouzier [14]	RCT	2004	France	Neoadjuvant epirubicin-based chemotherapy(AVCMF, FEC, FAC) 3–4 cycles at 21-day intervals or longer	589	50	T II,III	67	3	2	3	8
Shen [16]	RCT	2004	USA	Doxorubicin-based and paclitaxel-based	33	52	T IV	91	3	2	3	8
Von [27]	RCT	2008	Germany	TAC*6 or 8 cycles if response. TAC*2 if response then followed by another TAC 4 or 6 cycles, if not response then followed by NX or TAC 4 cycles	622	51.8	T I,II,III,IV	33	4	2	3	9
Walker [23]	CT	2011	England	AC 4 cycles every 3 weeks followed by weekly or every 3 weeks docetaxel	82	50	T II,III,IV	72	3	2	3	8
Yamazaki [26]	RS	2015	Japan	AT-based 4 cycles	217	52	T I,II,III,IV	84	3	1	2	6

Abbreviation: RS retrospective study, RCT randomized clinical trial, CT clinical trial, A doxorubicin, T taxane-based drug, E epirubicin, D docetaxel, C cyclophoshamide, F 5-fluorouracil, M methotrexate, P cisplatin, V vincristine, P* prednisolone, X capecitabine, N vinorelbine, NA not available, NOS Newcastle-Ottawa Scale