Table 3. Subgroup analyses of l-carnitine supplementation on lipid profile .

	N	WMD (95%CI)	P within group	P heterogeneity	I 2
Subgroup analyses of l-carnitine supplementation on triglycerides level
Baseline serum triglycerides (mg/dL)
>150	4	-9.52 (-51.40, 32.35)	0.656	<0.001	86.0%
<150	3	8.97 (-10.97, 28.92)	0.378	0.008	79.1%
Trial duration (week)
≤12	5	-4.89 (-40.92, 31.13)	0.790	<0.001	81.7%
>12	2	8.03 (-14.48, 30.54)	0.484	0.002	89.5%
L-carnitine dose (mg)
=3000	3	-8.70 (-115.38, 97.96)	0.873	<0.001	90.8%
<3000	4	2.64 (-11.92, 17.21)	0.722	<0.001	84.1%
Subgroup analyses of l-carnitine supplementation on cholesterol level
Baseline serum cholesterol (mg/dL)
>200	4	-11.93 (-20.80, -3.05)	0.008	0.098	52.4%
<200	3	-3.85 (-12.21, 4.50)	0.366	0.319	12.6%
Trial duration (week)
≤12	5	-8.57 (-19.80, 2.65)	0.134	0.065	54.8%
>12	2	-9.53 (-21.78, 2.70)	0.127	0.034	77.7%
L-carnitine dose (mg)
=3000	3	-10.01 (-25.40, 5.37)	0.202	0.214	35.0%
<3000	4	-8.70 (-17.77, 0.37)	0.060	0.016	71.1%
Subgroup analyses of l-carnitine supplementation on HDL-C level
Baseline serum HDL-C (mg/dL)
>40	5	-0.89 (-3.50, 1.71)	0.500	<0.001	88.1%
<40	1	-3.86 (-22.80, 15.08)	0.690	-	-
Trial duration (week)
≤12	4	1.05 (0.32, 1.78)	0.005	0.508	0.0%
>12	2	-1.78 (-4.74, 1.18)	0.240	0.064	70.8%
L-carnitine dose (mg)
=3000	3	-1.78 (-5.64, 2.07)	0.365	0.918	0.0%
<3000	3	-0.61 (-3.77, 2.55)	0.705	<0.001	93.9%
Subgroup analyses of l-carnitine supplementation on LDL-C level
Baseline serum LDL-C (mg/dL)
>100	3	-9.26 (-15.04, -3.48)	0.002	0.197	38.5%
<100	2	8.33 (-17.19, 33.87)	0.522	0.023	80.8%
Trial duration (week)
≤12	3	-4.43 (-28.83, 19.96)	0.721	0.005	81.3%
>12	2	-4.53 (-8.63, -0.44)	0.030	0.433	0.0%
Zinc dose (mg)
=3000	2	-0.84 (-50.55, 48.86)	0.973	0.005	87.1%
<3000	3	-6.69 (-11.42, -1.96)	0.006	0.137	49.7%