Table 2.

Results of meta-regression for significant fibrosis.

Covariate	Number	Pooled sensitivity	p value	Pooled specificity	p value	Joint p value
Classification criteria
METAVIR score	21	0.78 (0.75–0.83)	<0.01	0.79 (0.73–0.84)	<0.01	0.47
Non-METAVIR score	14	0.77 (0.70–0.83)		0.83 (0.78–0.89)
Interval time
On the next day of liver biopsy	11	0.76 (0.69–0.84)	<0.01	0.85 (0.79–0.90)	<0.01	0.29
More than one day after liver biopsy	24	0.78 (0.73–0.83)		0.78 (0.74–0.83)
Average sample size
⩾20 mm	7	0.76 (0.66–0.86)	<0.01	0.79 (0.69–0.88)	<0.01	0.77
Not ⩾ 20 mm	28	0.78 (0.74–0.82)		0.81 (0.77–0.85)
Region
Asian	26	0.78 (0.73–0.82)	<0.01	0.83 (0.79–0.87)	0.04	0.03
Caucasian	9	0.77 (0.68–0.85)		0.72 (0.63–0.80)