Table 2 Results of the meta-regression and subgroup analyses on shear wave elastography for differentiation of malignant and benign liver lesions
Covariates | Subgroup | No.of studies | Pooled SEN (95% CI) | P value | Pooled SPE (95% CI) | P value | Meta-Regression Joint P Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
modality | 1-pSWE | 12 | 0.82(0.76–0.87) | <0.01 | 0.83(0.77–0.89) | 0.18 | 0.70 |
0-2D-SWE | 3 | 0.84(0.75–0.93) |  | 0.79(0.66–0.92) |  |  | |
location | 1-Asian | 11 | 0.82(0.77–0.88) | 0.02 | 0.82(0.76–0.89) | 0.05 | 0.99 |
0- European or North America | 4 | 0.82(0.72–0.92) |  | 0.81(0.71–0.92) |  |  | |
gold standard | 1-histopathology | 3 | 0.82(0.72–0.92) | 0.02 | 0.85(0.73–0.96) | 0.22 | 0.89 |
0- histopathology and/or other | 12 | 0.82(0.77–0.88) |  | 0.81(0.75–0.88) |  |  | |
number of lesions | 1- ≥ 100 | 10 | 0.84(0.79–0.88) | 0.06 | 0.80(0.73–0.86) | <0.01 | 0.10 |
0-<100 | 5 | 0.76(0.66–0.87) |  | 0.88(0.80–0.97) |  |  | |
prevalence of malignant lesions | 1- ≥ 50% | 11 | 0.84(0.79–0.88) | 0.14 | 0.81(0.74–0.88) | 0.02 | 0.29 |
0-<50% | 4 | 0.75(0.63–0.87) |  | 0.84(0.74–0.94) |  |  | |
blinded | 1-yes | 11 | 0.82(0.77–0.88) | 0.02 | 0.81(0.74–0.88) | 0.02 | 0.79 |
0-unclear | 4 | 0.82(0.72–0.92) |  | 0.85(0.75–0.95) |  |  | |
attrition rate | 1- ≥ 10% | 7 | 0.82(0.77–0.87) | <0.01 | 0.81(0.74–0.88) | 0.04 | <0.01 |
0-<10% | 4 | 0.80(0.75–0.86) |  | 0.78(0.69–0.87) |  |  |