Table 3 Subgroup analysis of adipose tissue derived stem cells on motor function recovery after spinal cord injury
Subgroup | Number of experiments | Heterogeneity (p value) | SMD (95% CI) | P value | OR (95% CI) | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Injury model | ||||||
 Contusion/compression | 14 | 71.1% (< 0.0001) | 1.65 (1.15–2.15) |  < 0.0001 | Ref | – |
 Crush | 2 | 71.9% (< 0.0001) | 1.19 (0.32–2.06) | 0.008 | 0.61 (0.14–2.64) | 0.481 |
 Hemisection | 3 | 72.0% (< 0.0001) | 4.45 (1.33–7.57) | 0.005 | 6.26 (0.94–41.65) | 0.306 |
Severity of SCI | ||||||
 Moderate | 11 | 77.3% (p < 0.0001) | 1.42 (0.91–1.94) |  < 0.0001 | Ref | – |
 Sever | 8 | 48.8% (p = 0.057) | 2.23 (1.55–2.91) |  < 0.0001 | 2.30 (0.76–6.93) | 0.129 |
Treatment phase | ||||||
 Immediate and acute | 10 | 64.7% (p = 0.003) | 1.89 (1.38–2.40) |  < 0.0001 | Ref | – |
 Sub-acute | 9 | 73.8% (p < 0.0001) | 1.50 (0.82–2.18) |  < 0.0001 | 0.61 (0.20–1.85) | 0.362 |
Injury location | ||||||
 Thoracic | 11 | 72.3% (< 0.0001) | 1.81 (1.28–2.33) |  < 0.0001 | Ref | – |
 Thoracolumbar and lumbar | 8 | 70.9% (0.001) | 1.29 (0.85–2.32) |  < 0.0001 | 0.76 (0.24–2.42) | 0.620 |
Number of transplanted cell | ||||||
  ≤ 5.0 × 105 | 6 | 75.4% (0.001) | 2.14 (1.07–3.20) |  < 0.0001 | Ref | – |
 5.1 × 105 to 1.0 × 106 | 6 | 28.1% (0.224) | 1.91 (1.55–2.26) |  < 0.0001 | 1.10 (0.25–4.72) | 0.890 |
  > 1.0 × 106 | 5 | 75.0% (0.003) | 1.17 (0.14–2.19) | 0.026 | 0.40 (0.09–1.97) | 0.237 |
Route of administration | ||||||
 Intraspinal/intrathecal | 14 | 57.0% (0.004) | 1.89 (1.46–2.32) |  < 0.0001 | Ref | – |
 Intravenous | 5 | 86.7% (< 0.0001) | 1.18 (0.11–2.25) | 0.031 | 0.43 (0.13–1.35) | 0.138 |
Type of graft | ||||||
 Allograft | 11 | 62.5% (0.003) | 1.64 (1.22–2.05) |  < 0.0001 | Ref | – |
 Xenograft | 7 | 80.7% (< 0.0001) | 1.91 (0.86–2.95) |  < 0.0001 | 1.40 (0.44–4.41) | 0.542 |
 Autograft | 1 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Follow-up duration | ||||||
 3–4 weeks | 7 | 72.7% (0.001) | 1.78 (1.12–2.44) |  < 0.0001 | Ref | – |
 5–7 weeks | 6 | 75.0% (0.007) | 1.46 (0.51–2.41) | 0.003 | 0.65 (0.13–3.19) | 0.573 |
 8–13 weeks | 7 | 74.4% (< 0.0001) | 1.85 (1.04–2.65) |  < 0.0001 | 0.93 (0.23–3.69) | 0.911 |
Risk of bias | ||||||
 Low risk | 1 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
 Some concern | 10 | 64.6% (0.003) | 2.02 (1.43–2.61) |  < 0.001 | Ref | – |
 High risk | 8 | 75.9 (< 0.001) | 1.28 (0.66–1.90) |  < 0.001 | 2.10 (0.71–6.21) | 0.168 |