Table 1. Characteristics of included studies in the meta-analysis.
| Author | Year | Country | Language | Number of patients | Detection method | Gender: male (+/-), female (+/-) |
Age: >50 (+/-), ≤50 (+/-) |
Tumor size: >3 cm (+/-), ≤3 cm (+/-) |
Differentiation: low (+/-), high, and moderate (+/-) |
LNM: yes (+/-) no (+/-) |
TNM stage: III+IV (+/-) I+II (+/-) |
Distant metastasis: yes (+/-) no (+/-) |
Pathological subtype: SCC (+/-) ADC (+/-) |
Smoking history: yes (+/-) no (+/-) |
Survival information | NOS scores |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kimura [10] | 2000 | Switzerland | English | 135 | IHC | NA | NA | NA | 14/7 60/45 |
39/11 42/43 |
NA | 3/0 78/54 |
NA | NA | OS (S) | 8 |
| Hu [11] | 2005 | China | Chinese | 86 | IHC | 35/29 13/9 |
22/28 26/10 |
40/20 8/18 |
17/9 31/29 |
36/14 12/24 |
9/5 39/33 |
NA | 32/27 16/11 |
NA | NA | 6 |
| Han [22] | 2008 | China | Chinese | 130 | IHC | 62/21 32/15 |
57/25 37/11 |
NA | 45/11 49/25 |
70/12 24/24 |
68/10 26/26 |
22/2 72/34 |
43/8 28/19 |
47/16 47/20 |
OS (M) | 7 |
| Matsubara [15] | 2005 | Switzerland | English | 94 | IHC | NA | NA | NA | NA | 11/27 8/48 |
11/36 8/39 |
NA | NA | NA | OS (S) | 8 |
| Miyazaki [31] | 2006 | Japan | English | 92 | IHC | NA | NA | NA | NA | 29/9 35/19 |
23/7 41/21 |
35/20 29/8 |
NA | NA | OS (S) | 8 |
| Qi [16] | 2007 | China | Chinese | 116 | IHC | 49/33 15/19 |
38/44 26/8 |
53/23 11/29 |
NA | 46/13 18/39 |
23/14 41/38 |
NA | 29/26 32/24 |
NA | OS (S) | 8 |
| Chen [17] | 2008 | China | Chinese | 41 | IHC | 17/8 12/4 |
16/7 13/5 |
21/2 8/10 |
15/4 14/8 |
18/2 11/10 |
16/0 13/12 |
NA | 11/10 18/2 |
8/6 23/4 |
OS (S) | 6 |
| Liu [21] | 2006 | China | Chinese | 47 | IHC | 10/3 18/16 |
NA | NA | 12/5 16/14 |
21/8 7/11 |
NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 6 |
| Sheng [9] | 2006 | China | Chinese | 76 | IHC | NA | NA | NA | 22/14 21/19 |
30/8 9/29 |
38/14 8/16 |
NA | 30/18 18/10 |
NA | NA | 6 |
| Tsuna [32] | 2009 | Japan | English | 66 | IHC | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | OS (S) | 7 |
| Tsuna [32] | 2009 | Japan | English | 104 | IHC | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | OS (S) | 7 |
| Lin [33] | 2009 | China | Chinese | 91 | IHC | 46/21 21/3 |
38/12 29/12 |
50/21 17/3 |
NA | 32/6 35/18 |
23/3 44/21 |
NA | 33/18 34/6 |
NA | NA | 7 |
| Qin [23] | 2009 | China | Chinese | 130 | IHC | 56/27 34/13 |
49/33 41/7 |
NA | 48/8 42/32 |
68/14 22/26 |
65/13 25/27 |
21/3 69/37 |
NA | 46/17 44/23 |
OS (M) | 7 |
| Xu [24] | 2009 | China | Chinese | 120 | IHC | 48/28 29/15 |
44/35 33/8 |
NA | 33/11 36/32 |
18/31 59/12 |
55/25 22/18 |
NA | 24/25 34/13 |
NA | NA | 6 |
| Jung [12] | 2010 | Korea | English | 67 | IHC | 43/10 13/1 |
18/6 38/5 |
NA | NA | 25/4 30/7 |
16/3 40/8 |
2/0 54/11 |
27/10 29/1 |
NA | OS | 8 |
| Yang [25] | 2010 | China | Chinese | 90 | IHC | 38/13 31/8 |
22/9 47/12 |
NA | 39/4 30/17 |
51/10 18/11 |
45/4 24/17 |
NA | 33/11 36/10 |
NA | NA | 7 |
| Li [13] | 2011 | China | Chinese | 79 | IHC | 13/15 26/25 |
22/21 17/19 |
NA | NA | 27/18 12/22 |
28/16 14/21 |
NA | NA | 17/10 22/30 |
OS (S) | 7 |
| Chen [26] | 2012 | China | Chinese | 112 | IHC | 38/38 22/14 |
22/16 38/36 |
32/35 28/17 |
18/15 42/37 |
NA | NA | 10/10 50/42 |
24/13 38/30 |
NA | OS (S) | 6 |
| Zhang [34] | 2013 | China | English | 204 | IHC | 114/59 23/8 |
67/29 70/38 |
NA | 38/17 99/50 |
59/19 78/48 |
43/16 94/51 |
NA | NA | 110/55 27/12 |
OS (M) | 8 |
| Zhang [27] | 2013 | China | Chinese | 89 | IHC | 45/7 30/7 |
39/8 36/6 |
NA | 8/0 67/14 |
55/2 20/12 |
55/3 20/11 |
56/2 19/12 |
26/6 40/10 |
NA | OS (M) | 7 |
| Yang [28] | 2014 | China | Chinese | 67 | IHC | 30/11 19/7 |
29/13 20/5 |
NA | 16/1 33/17 |
34/5 15/13 |
NA | NA | 21/12 25/2 |
NA | NA | 7 |
| Liu [29] | 2015 | China | Chinese | 84 | IHC | 31/11 27/15 |
35/15 23/11 |
26/12 32/14 |
26/1 32/25 |
35/1 23/25 |
37/1 21/25 |
NA | NA | NA | OS (S) | 7 |
| Stewart [35] | 2016 | America | English | 81 | IHC | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 6/94 17/64 |
NA | OS | 8 |
| Chen [30] | 2017 | China | Chinese | 106 | IHC | 35/19 34/18 |
24/15 45/22 |
NA | NA | 31/5 38/32 |
33/10 36/27 |
NA | 11/15 58/22 |
25/16 44/21 |
OS (M) | 7 |
Abbreviations: M, multivariate analysis; NA, not available; S, survival curve.