Table 3.

Subgroup analyses of the associations between NLR and mortality in ischemic stroke.

Stratified analyses	No. of patients	No. of studies	Model	Pooled HR (95% CI)	P-value	PD-value	Heterogeneity
							I2	PH-value
Assessment time						<0.001
Short-term mortality
In-hospital mortality	2,642	4	Fixed	1.051 (1.029–1.072)	0.005		44.8%	0.142
30-day mortality	151	1	Random	1.220 (1.105–1.347)	<0.001		-	-
60-day mortality	255	1	Random	3.300 (1.350–8.068)	0.009		-	-
90-day mortality	1,437	4	Random	1.115 (0.913–1.362)	0.284		72.4%	0.013
Long-term mortality*	468	2	Random	1.030 (1.010–1.050)	0.003		0.0%	0.423
Demographic factors
Age						<0.001
<65	935	4	Random	1.052 (0.997–1.110)	0.065		55.4%	0.047
≥65	3,656	7	Random	1.131 (1.042–1.227)	0.003		77.3%	<0.001
Gender distribution						<0.001
Male dominant	2,919	4	Fixed	1.039 (1.024–1.053)	<0.001		23.8%	0.263
Balanced	1,577	6	Random	1.170 (1.016–1.347)	0.030		70.8%	0.002
Female dominant	95	1	Random	1.339 (1.050–1.708)	0.019		-	-
Country						<0.001
Eastern	2,560	4	Random	1.046 (1.017–1.077)	0.002		57.5%	0.052
Western	2,031	7	Random	1.168 (1.018–1.339)	0.027		66.0%	0.004
Vascular risk factors
Presence of hypertension						<0.001
<55%	257	2	Fixed	1.198 (1.088–1.321)	<0.001		45.3%	0.161
≥55% and <65%	1,658	4	Random	1.162 (0.986–1.370)	0.074		59.9%	0.058
≥65% and <75%	1,731	1	Random	1.040 (1.015–1.065)	0.001
≥75%	734	2	Random	1.045 (1.001–1.090)	0.044		61.7%	0.074
Presence of diabetes mellitus						<0.001
<25%	2,034	4	Fixed	1.043 (1.026–1.060)	<0.001		48.1%	0.103
≥25%	2,240	4	Random	1.167 (1.012–1.347)	0.034		83.9%	<0.001
Presence of hyperlipidemia						0.006
<25%	619	3	Random	1.076 (1.013–1.143)	0.018		73.2%	0.005
≥25%	2,030	5	Random	1.125 (0.944–1.342)	0.189		60.2%	0.040
Presence of current smoking						0.214
<35%	2,591	4	Random	1.167 (0.972–1.402)	0.098		81.0%	0.001
≥35%	372	1	Random	0.660 (0.356–1.222)	0.186
Methodological factors
Onset-time#						<0.001
Within 24 h	1,355	4	Random	1.174 (1.043–1.321)	0.008		73.7%	0.010
Within 48 h	2,547	3	Fixed	1.039 (1.024–1.054)	<0.001		5.3%	0.367
Sample time&						0.001
On admission	2,208	7	Random	1.083 (1.020–1.151)	0.010		75.3%	<0.001
Within 24 h	198	2	Fixed	1.222 (1.083–1.379)	0.396		0.0%	0.001
Within 48 h	2,185	2	Fixed	1.040 (1.015–1.065)	0.001		0.0%	0.896
Cutoff value						0.019
<4	1,837	2	Fixed	1.039 (1.014–1.065)	0.002		0.0%	0.403
≥4	1,174	6	Random	1.308 (1.103–1.551)	0.002		56.0%	0.045
Definition of cutoff value						<0.001
ROC curve analysis	2,302	6	Random	1.155 (1.012–1.319)	0.033		76.0%	<0.001
Continuous variable	1,580	3	Random	1.054 (1.017–1.092)	0.004		61.0%	0.053
Median	255	1	Random	3.300 (1.350–8.068)	0.009		-	−
ORs/RRs calculation‡						<0.001
Multivariate	4,485	10	Random	1.085 (1.042–1.130)	<0.001		73.6%	<0.001
Univariate	106	1	Fixed	0.725 (0.429–1.225)	0.229		0.0%	0.979

^*Long-term mortality was defined as hazard of death due to all causes or stroke within at least 1 year by the end of follow-up.

^#Onset time was defined as time from stroke onset to recruitment/admission/diagnosis.

^&Sample time was defined as time from stroke onset to take blood sample.

^‡HRs were extracted from multivariate Cox proportional hazards models, univariate Cox proportional hazards models, or survival curve analysis.