Table I.

Characteristics of studies included in the meta-analysis

Study	Year	Country	Number of patients	Number of nodules	Mean age [years]	Newcastle–Ottawa score
Iguchi [8]	2015	Japan	35	80	59.9	8
Tseng [9]	2016	Taiwan	100	217	59.9	6
Kadeer [10]	2018	China	76	194	55	8
Li [11]	2018	China	51	126	58.9	8
Fu [12]	2019	China	19	43	56.3	6
Sun [13]	2019	China	16	34	47	6
Teng [14]	2020	China	31	68	55	8
Yang [15]	2020	China	17	37	Not given	6