Article Figures & Data
Figures
- Fig 1.
Flow diagram of the study selection process.
- Fig 2.
Forest plots for nondiagnostic results, inconclusive results, and malignancy of the CNB. Numbers are pooled estimates with 95% confidence intervals in parentheses. Horizontal lines indicate 95% CIs, and the black box on each line indicates the standardized mean difference for each study. The black diamond at the bottom of the plot shows the average effect size of the included studies.
Tables
Summary of the meta-analytic pooled proportions for nondiagnostic results, inconclusive results, and malignancy on CNB
No. of Studies Total No. of Cases Summary Estimate Trim-and-Fill Estimate Pooled Proportion (95% CI) P Value for Heterogeneitya I2b No. of Missing Studies Adjusted Pooled Proportion (95% CI) Nondiagnostic results 6 1836 1.8% (0.4%–3.2%) <.01 94.6% 2 0.8% (−0.8%–2.5%) Inconclusive results 6 1836 25.1% (15.4%–34.9%) <.01 95.8% 0 Malignancy 6 1836 18.9% (8.4%–29.5%) <.01 98.3% 1 15.6% (4.4%–26.8%) ↵a P value by the Cochran Q method to test the heterogeneity of the pooled data, with P < .05 indicating substantial heterogeneity.
b Higgins index for heterogeneity (0%–40%, might not be important; 30%–60%, may represent moderate heterogeneity; 50%–90%, may represent substantial heterogeneity; 75%–100%, may represent considerable heterogeneity).
