Table 3.

Subgroup analysis according to study design, study population, and ethnicity

Group	HE			HCC			Mortality			LRE
	Na	Pooled RR (95% CI)	P value	Na	Pooled RR (95% CI)	P value	Na	Pooled RR (95% CI)	P value	Na	Pooled RR (95% CI)	P value
Study population
Surgical resection of HCC	4	0.716 (0.514–0.996)	0.047	5	0.890 (0.717–1.105)	0.29	10	0.992 (0.764–1.287)	0.949	10	0.716 (0.595–0.86)	<0.001
HCC	2	0.595 (0.133–2.667)	0.497	1	0.559 (0.37–0.844)	0.006	3	0.637 (0.289–1.402)	0.262	3	0.521 (0.34–0.801)	0.003
Liver cirrhosis	1	0.168 (0.023–1.233)	0.079	—	—	—	1	0.896 (0.437–1.838)	0.764	—	—	—
		P = 0.366			P = 0.05			P = 0.543			P = 0.183
Study design
RCT	5	0.716 (0.502–1.02)	0.065	6	0.791 (0.619–1.011)	0.061	10	0.902 (0.746–1.091)	0.289	9	0.725 (0.597–0.879)	0.001
Prospective cohort	1	0.387 (0.161–0.933)	0.034	—	—	—	2	0.657 (0.263–1.637)	0.367	2	0.582 (0.407–0.831)	0.003
Retrospective cohort	1	1.25 (0.361–4.326)	0.725	—	—	—	2	0.858 (0.439–1.679)	0.656	2	0.596 (0.281–1.263)	0.176
		P = 0.275			NA			P = 0.796			P = 0.531
Ethnicity
Asian	5	0.621 (0.343–1.126)	0.117	6	0.791 (0.619–1.011)	0.061	13	0.887 (0.746–1.054)	0.172	11	0.652 (0.557–0.763)	<0.001
Non-Asian	2	0.633 (0.306–1.309)	0.217	—	—	—	1	0.896 (0.437–1.838)	0.764	2	0.769 (0.397–1.489)	0.435
		P = 0.969			NA			P = 0.978			P = 0.635

P value was computed by the comparison between subgroups.

CI, confidence interval; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; HE, hepatic encephalopathy; LRE, liver-related event; RR, risk ratio.

^aN, number of studies.