Table 3.
Summary diagnostic power based on subgroup analyses
| Subgroup | Number of studies | Number of HCC | Number of controls | SEN (95% CI) | I-squared (%) | SPE (95% CI) | I-squared (%) | PLR (95% CI) | NLR (95% CI) | DOR (95% CI) | AUC (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region | |||||||||||
| Africa | 33 | 3407 | 3041 | 0.84 (0.79–0.89) | 92.93 | 0.76 (0.69–0.82) | 90.56 | 3.5 (2.6–4.6) | 0.21 (0.15–0.30) | 17 (9–30) | 0.87 (0.84–0.90) |
| Asia | 5 | 180 | 326 | 0.77 (0.68–0.85) | 49.68 | 0.78 (0.63–0.88) | 75.02 | 3.5 (2.0–5.9) | 0.29 (0.20–0.42) | 12 (6–26) | 0.84 (0.80–0.87) |
| Specimen types | |||||||||||
| Serum | 34 | 3445 | 3219 | 0.83 (0.77–0.87) | 92.28 | 0.74 (0.68–0.79) | 88.95 | 3.2 (2.5–4.1) | 0.23 (0.17–0.32) | 14 (8–23) | 0.85 (0.82–0.88) |
| Plasm | 5 | 162 | 168 | 0.86 (0.79–0.90) | 0 | 0.91 (0.83–0.96) | 62.13 | 10.0 (4.7–21.2) | 0.16 (0.11–0.23) | 64 (25–164) | 0.87 (0.84–0.90) |
| Regulation mode | |||||||||||
| Upregulated | 18 | 1388 | 1276 | 0.81 (0.74–0.87) | 89.46 | 0.77 (0.68–0.83) | 87.71 | 3.5 (2.5–4.9) | 0.25 (0.17–0.36) | 14 (7–27) | 0.86 (0.82–0.89) |
| Downregulated | 18 | 1751 | 1841 | 0.82 (0.75–0.87) | 89.88 | 0.71 (0.63–0.78) | 84.56 | 2.8 (2.2–3.6) | 0.25 (0.18,0.35) | 11 (7–18) | 0.83 (0.80–0.86) |
| Internal reference types | |||||||||||
| SNORD 68 | 26 | 3145 | 2813 | 0.85 (0.79–0.90) | 93.97 | 0.74 (0.66–0.80) | 91.15 | 3.2 (2.4–4.4) | 0.20 (0.13–0.31) | 16 (8–31) | 0.86 (0.83–0.89) |
| non-SNORD 68 | 13 | 462 | 574 | 0.79 (0.72–0.84) | 62.26 | 0.83 (0.74–0.90) | 78.75 | 4.6 (2.8–7.6) | 0.26 (0.19–0.35) | 18 (8–39) | 0.86 (0.83–0.89) |
| miRNAs profiling | |||||||||||
| Single miRNA | 35 | 3088 | 3078 | 0.77 (0.68–0.83) | 89.68 | 0.74 (0.68–0.79) | 85.88 | 3.1 (2.5–3.9) | 0.26 (0.20–0.33) | 12 (8–19) | 0.84 (0.81–0.87) |
| miRNA clusters | 4 | 519 | 309 | 0.95 (0.89–0.98) | 85.29 | 0.92 (0.79–0.97) | 88.77 | 11.8 (4.1–34.4) | 0.05 (0.02–0.13) | 237 (33–1687) | 0.98 (0.97–0.99) |
| Sample size | |||||||||||
| < 100 | 19 | 705 | 659 | 0.80 (0.74–0.85) | 70.29 | 0.82 (0.72–0.88) | 85.59 | 4.4 (2.8–6.8) | 0.25 (0.19–0.33) | 18 (9–33) | 0.87 (0.83–0.89) |
| > 100 | 20 | 2902 | 2728 | 0.86 (0.78–0.91) | 95.22 | 0.73 (0.65–0.80) | 92.11 | 3.2 (2.3–4.4) | 0.19 (0.12–0.32) | 16 (7–36) | 0.86 (0.82–0.89) |
| Control groups | |||||||||||
| CHC | 18 | 1950 | 2230 | 0.83 (0.77–0.88) | 90.65 | 0.74 (0.66–0.82) | 89.03 | 3.3 (2.3–4.5) | 0.23 (0.16–0.32) | 14 (8–26) | 0.86 (0.83–0.89) |
| LC | 13 | 1005 | 591 | 0.84 (0.75–0.90) | 90.52 | 0.73 (0.66–0.79) | 73.11 | 3.1 (2.4–4.2) | 0.22 (0.14–0.36) | 14 (7–28) | 0.84 (0.80–0.87) |
miRNAs microRNAs, 95% CI 95% confidence intervals, SEN sensitivity, SPE specificity, PLR positive likelihood ratios, NLR negative likelihood ratios, DOR diagnostic odds ratio, AUC area under the curve, HCC hepatocellular carcinoma, LC liver cirrhosis, CHC chronic hepatitis C