Table 1.

Baseline characteristics of studies included in the final meta-analysis

First author	Publication year	Country	Age	Male (%)	Sample size			Chemotherapy regimen	Disease status	Tumor stage (I and II)	Jadad score
					NAC	SA	Total
Cunningham [21]	2006	UK	62.0	78.7	250	253	503	Cisplatin; fluorouracil	Resectable Gastroesophageal Cancer	43.8%	5
Hartgrink [22]	2004	Netherland	NG	NG	27	29	56	Methotrexate; 5-fluorouracil; leucovorin	Resectable GC	53.6%	4
Hashemzadeh [23]	2014	Iran	59.2	75.7	22	52	74	Docetaxel; cisplatin; 5-fluorouracil	Locally advanced GC	28.0%	1
Lygidakis [24]	1999	Greece	61.0	47.4	19	19	38	Mitomycin C; 5-fluorouracil; leucovorin; farmorubicin	Resectable GC	36.8%	2
Qu [25]	2010	China	56.0	61.5	39	39	78	Docetaxel	Advanced GC	0.0%	3
Schuhmacher [10]	2010	Europe	57.0	69.4	72	72	144	Cisplatin; fluorouracil	Locally Advanced Cancer of the Stomach and Cardia	0.0%	3
Sun [26]	2011	China	NG	NG	29	26	55	Docetaxel; dexamethasone; cimetidine; phenergan	Borrmann Type IV GC	NG	1
Wang [27]	2000	China	54.5	83.3	30	30	60	5-fluorouracil	Gastric cardia cancer	18.3%	1
Ychou [9]	2011	France	63.0	84.0	113	111	224	Fluorouracil; cisplatin	Resectable Gastroesophageal Adenocarcinoma	31.1%	3
Yonemura [7]	1993	Japan	60.5	74.5	26	29	55	Cisplatin; mitomycin C; etoposide;l-(2-tetrahydrofuryl)-5-fluorouracil; uracil	High-Grade Advanced GC	16.4%	2
Zhang [28]	2012	China	NG	60.0	38	42	80	Calcium folinate; oxaliplatin; 5-fluorouracil	Advanced GC	0.0%	2
Kobayashi [29]	2000	Japan	NG	NG	91	80	171	5-fluorouracil	Resectable GC	NG	2

NAC neoadjuvant chemotherapy, SA surgery alone, GC gastric cancer NG not given