Table 2. The association between GGT and OS in different subgroups.
| Analysis | Number of studies | HR (95% CI) | Test of null (two-tail) | Heterogeneity | Model | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Z-value | P-value | I2 (%) | P-value | df | ||||
| (i) Ethnicity | ||||||||
| Asian | 26 | 1.89 (1.71, 2.09) | 12.49 | <0.01 | 29 | 0.09 | 25 | Fixed |
| Non-Asian | 3 | 1.43 (1.11, 1.84) | 2.74 | <0.01 | 26 | 0.26 | 2 | Fixed |
| (ii) Pathological type | ||||||||
| HCC | 24 | 1.81 (1.62, 2.01) | 10.70 | <0.01 | 32 | 0.07 | 23 | Fixed |
| ICC | 5 | 1.97 (1.51, 2.56) | 5.05 | <0.01 | 60 | 0.04 | 4 | Random |
| (iii) Sample size | ||||||||
| >300 | 10 | 1.77 (1.50, 2.09) | 6.72 | <0.01 | 54 | 0.02 | 9 | Random |
| ≤300 | 19 | 1.89 (1.67, 2.14) | 10.22 | <0.01 | 22 | 0.19 | 18 | Fixed |
| (iv) Cut-off value | ||||||||
| ≤50 | 12 | 1.86 (1.55, 2.23) | 6.66 | <0.01 | 54 | 0.01 | 11 | Random |
| 50–75 | 6 | 1.79 (1.50, 2.12) | 6.64 | <0.01 | 0 | 0.71 | 5 | Fixed |
| 75–100 | 6 | 2.03 (1.59, 2.59) | 5.73 | <0.01 | 53 | 0.06 | 5 | Fixed |
| >100 | 5 | 1.62 (1.30, 2.03) | 4.25 | <0.01 | 18 | 0.30 | 4 | Fixed |
| (v) Analysis type | ||||||||
| Univariate | 7 | 2.25 (1.78, 2.85) | 6.75 | <0.01 | 30 | 0.20 | 6 | Fixed |
| Multivariate | 22 | 1.75 (1.58, 1.94) | 10.64 | <0.01 | 31 | 0.08 | 21 | Fixed |
| (vi) Primary treatment | ||||||||
| TACE | 7 | 1.58 (1.14, 2.20) | 8.93 | <0.01 | 55 | 0.06 | 4 | Random |
| Liver resection | 17 | 1.92 (1.67, 2.22) | 9.13 | <0.01 | 0 | 0.88 | 6 | Fixed |
| Ablation | 2 | 3.13 (2.16, 4.55) | 6.00 | <0.01 | 0 | 0.84 | 1 | Fixed |
| (vii) Disease stage | ||||||||
| Unresectable | 4 | 1.47 (1.24, 1.74) | 4.45 | <0.01 | 0 | 0.43 | 3 | Fixed |
Abbreviation: df, degree of freedom.