Table 3.

Summarized hazard ratios of overall and subgroup analyses for overall survival and disease-free survival.

Group	No. of studies	No. of patients	HR (95% CI)	p	Heterogeneity x2	I2 (%)	p Heterogeneity
Disease-free survival
N– patients	6	2775	1.78 (1.39–2.27)	<0.00001	10.33	52	0.07
N+ patients	6	2633	1.38 (1.25–1.53)	<0.00001	2.53	0	0.77
Early stage patients	5	657	1.73 (1.34–2.23)	<0.0001	3.2	6	0.36
Chemotherapy patients	3	459	1.60 (1.21–2.12)	0.0009	0.18	0	0.91
Overall survival
N– patients	5	1193	1.67 (1.18–2.37)	0.004	16.29	75	0.003
N+ patients	5	784	1.65 (1.29–2.11)	<0.0001	4.17	4	0.38
Chemotherapy patients	4	575	1.80 (1.39–2.33)	<0.00001	2.14	0	0.54

CI, confidence interval; HR, hazard ratio; N–, node-negative; N+, node-positive.