Elevated Preoperative Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio Is Associated with Poor Prognosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients Treated with Liver Transplantation: A Meta-Analysis
Table 3
Subgroup analysis for the association between elevated preoperative NLR and prognosis of HCC patients treated with LT.
Study endpoints
Variables
Number of studies
Number of patients
HR (95% CI)
value
Heterogeneity
(%)
value
OS
Total
7
1292
2.71 (1.91–3.83)
0.000
65.6
0.008
NLR range
3.0–4.0
3
539
2.17 (1.41–3.34)
0.000
71.6
0.030
5.0–6.0
4
753
3.43 (2.14–5.49)
0.000
40.7
0.168
LT types
LDLT
3
532
3.79 (2.57–5.60)
0.000
0.0
0.491
DDLT
3
480
2.50 (1.43–4.37)
0.001
71.1
0.031
Mixed
1
280
1.70 (1.17–2.48)
0.006
—
—
DFS
Total
10
1687
3.61 (2.23–5.84)
0.000
85.7
0.000
NLR range
3.0–4.0
6
934
2.36 (1.54–3.60)
0.000
79.0
0.000
5.0–6.0
4
753
7.13 (3.16–16.07)
0.000
64.9
0.036
LT types
LDLT
6
927
3.38 (1.65–6.94)
0.001
84.0
0.000
DDLT
3
480
6.19 (1.70–22.56)
0.006
89.2
0.000
Mixed
1
280
1.76 (1.22–2.53)
0.002
—
—
NLR, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; LT, liver transplantation; OS, overallsurvival; DFS, disease-free survival; LDLT, living donor liver transplantation; DDLT, deceased donor living transplantation; HR, hazard ratio; and CI, confidence interval.
