Table 5 Results of meta-regression

Publication year

0.91 (0.85–0.95)

2.35

0.12

0.79 (0.73–0.84)

1.32

0.51

Sample size

0.89 (0.85–0.92)

2.11

0.24

0.77 (0.72–0.80)

1.19

0.45

Reference standard

0.91 (0.87–0.94)

2.30

0.02

0.78 (0.74–0.82)

1.28

0.58

Number of predictive factors

0.86 (0.79–0.91)

1.80

0.40

0.78 (0.73–0.83)

1.27

0.76

Blind

0.88 (0.84–0.92)

2.01

0.77

0.80 (0.76–0.83)

1.36

0.01

Whether contained PET/CT

0.86 (0.81–0.90)

1.82

0.17

0.77 (0.73–0.81)

1.22

0.66

Whether contained tumor markers

0.89 (0.85–0.92)

2.10

0.25

0.77 (0.73–0.80)

1.20

0.49