. 2020 Jan 23;10:1375. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2019.01375

Table 5.

Subgroup analyses of the OS in the eight included studies based on adjusted variables.

Sub variates	No. of trials	HR (95% CI)	P value (FEM)	HR (95% CI)	P value (REM)	Heterogeneity I², P	Heterogeneity Q	Heterogeneity tau²	P between subgroup
		(FEM)		(REM)					(REM)

Clinical stage
YES	6	*2.007[1.587; 2.538]*	*<0.0001*	2.007[1.587; 2.538]	<0.0001	0.00%, 0.8483	2.0058	<0.0001	0.8855
NO	2	*2.260[1.388; 3.681]*	*0.0010*	2.283[1.350; 3.859]	0.0021	11.85%, 0.2868	1.1344	0.0183	0.8855
Lymph node metastasis
YES	4	*2.060[1.532; 2.771]*	*<0.0001*	2.060[1.532; 2.771]	<0.0001	0.00%, 0.8694	0.7161	<0.0001	0.9731
NO	4	*2.044[1.511; 2.765]*	*<0.0001*	2.044[1.511; 2.765]	<0.0001	0.00%, 0.4561	2.6082	<0.0001	0.9731
Tumor differentiation
YES	3	*2.109[1.488; 2.990]*	*<0.0001*	2.174[1.454; 3.251]	0.0002	19.49%, 0.2888	2.4842	0.0263	0.9251
NO	5	*2.020[1.548; 2.636]*	*<0.0001*	2.020[1.548; 2.636]	<0.0001	0.00%, 0.9378	0.8047	<0.0001	0.9251
Tumor size
YES	2	*1.714[1.204; 2.441]*	*0.0028*	1.714[1.204; 2.441]	0.0028	0.00%, 0.8317	0.0452	<0.0001	0.4485
NO	6	*2.269[1.742; 2.955]*	*<0.0001*	2.269[1.742; 2.955]	<0.0001	0.00%, 0.8851	1.7300	<0.0001	0.4485
Vascular invasion
YES	2	*2.375[1.481; 3.810]*	*0.0003*	2.375[1.481; 3.810]	0.0003	0.00%, 0.6755	0.1753	<0.0001	0.7737
NO	6	*1.978[1.562; 2.507]*	*<0.0001*	1.978[1.562; 2.507]	<0.0001	0.00%, 0.7476	2.6905	<0.0001	0.7737
Tumor depth
YES	2	*2.299[1.525; 3.467]*	*0.0001*	2.299[1.525; 3.467]	0.0001	0.00%, 0.3456	0.8894	<0.0001	0.7971
NO	6	*1.970[1.539; 2.521]*	*<0.0001*	1.970[1.539; 2.521]	<0.0001	0.00%, 0.8442	2.0359	<0.0001	0.7971
Distant metastasis
YES	4	*1.965[1.493; 2.585]*	*<0.0001*	1.965[1.493; 2.585]	<0.0001	0.00%, 0.5739	1.9927	<0.0001	0.8639
NO	4	*2.188[1.569; 3.050]*	*<0.0001*	2.188[1.569; 3.050]	<0.0001	0.00%, 0.7786	1.0935	<0.0001	0.8639
Postoperative recurrence
YES	1	*2.160[1.129; 4.133]*	*0.0200*	2.160[1.129; 4.133]	0.0200	NA, 1.0000	<0.0001	NA	0.9609
NO	7	*2.040[1.631; 2.551]*	*<0.0001*	2.040[1.631; 2.551]	<0.0001	0.00%, 0.7705	3.2990	<0.0001	0.9609
Smoking status
YES	1	*2.808[1.131; 6.969]*	*0.0260*	2.808[1.131; 6.969]	0.0260	NA, 1.0000	<0.0001	NA	0.7648
NO	7	*2.016[1.622; 2.506]*	*<0.0001*	2.016[1.622; 2.506]	<0.0001	0, 0.8283	2.8426	<0.0001	0.7648

HR, hazard ratio; CI, confidence interval; OS, overall survival; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; FEM, fixed-effect model; REM, random-effect model; NA, not available; YES, this clinicopathology parameters is the adjusted variable for OS in the included studies; NO: this clinicopathology parameters is not the adjusted variable for OS in the included studies.

I², index for assessing heterogeneity; value ≥25% indicates a moderate to high heterogeneity.

Bold italics indicate statistically significant values (P <0.05).