Non-invasive tests for predicting liver outcomes in chronic hepatitis C patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Table 5 Unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios of non-invasive tests for the prediction of hepatic decompensation and other composite outcomes

Unadjusted hazard ratio (HR)
Ref.	Outcomes	NIT1	HR (95%CI)	P value
Hansen et al[20], 2019	HD (HCC included)	TE	59.00 (17.40–200.00)	< 0.005
Ogasawara et al[38], 2019	HD	TE (Pre-Rx)	7.77 (1.29–46.20)	0.025
		TE (Post-Rx)	17.80 (1.85–171.30)	0.013
Bloom et al[17], 2018	LRE (HD, HCC and OM)	TE	56.00 (7.00–415.00)	< 0.001
Gomez-Moreno et al[19], 2017	LRE (HD, HCC or LRM)	TE	33.27 (7.25–152.63)	< 0.001
Pérez-Latorre et al[24], 2016	HD or HCC, whichever occurred first	TE (Post-Rx)	37.76 (17.87–79.80)	< 0.001
Macías et al[21], 2015	HD (HCC included)	TE	39.90 (5.50–291.00)	< 0.0001
Adjusted hazard ratio (aHR)
Ref.	Outcomes	NIT1	aHR (95%CI)	P value	Adjustment variables
Hansen et al[20], 2019	HD (HCC included)	TE	9.00 (2.49-32.20)	0.001	Age, SVR, hyaluronic acid
Ogasawara et al[38], 2019	HD	TE (Pre-Rx)	4.85 (0.80–29.40)	0.086	Platelet count, albumin
		TE (Post-Rx)	14.90 (1.45-152.10)	0.023	Platelet count, albumin
Peleg et al[23], 2019	OM or HCC	TE (Post-Rx)	2.32 (0.97-6.59)	0.062	liver steatosis, baseline serum platelets
Gomez-Moreno et al[19], 2017	LRE (HD, HCC and OM)	TE	30.97 (6.73-142.51)	< 0.001	Age, gender, time since HCV diagnosis, HCV genotype, injection drug use, high alcohol intake, HCV antiviral therapy
Merchante et al[26], 2017	HD	TE	1.90 (1.04–3.64)	< 0.001	Age, gender, SVR during follow-up
Lee et al[46], 2016	HD, HCC, and/or LRM	TE (Post-Rx)	9.47 (1.02-88.13)	0.048	Age, AFP
Macías et al[21], 2015	HD (HCC included)	TE	59.50 (8.30-427.00)	< 0.001	Age, gender, platelet counts, AIDS at baseline, alcohol use, treatment against HCV, time-varying CD4 cell counts and undetectable HIV RNA.
Berenguer et al[12], 2015	OM/LRE (HD or HCC), whichever occurred first.	FIB-4 (Pre-Rx)	3.90 (2.46-6.16)	< 0.001	Age, gender, HIV transmission category, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HIV clinical category, CD4 cell nadir, HCV genotype, HCV RNA, alcohol intake, methadone use, SVR

¹Non-invasive tests are not classified as either pre-treatment or post-treatment if the study did not specify when the NIT measurement was done with regards to the initiation of hepatitis C virus therapy. APRI: Aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index; FIB-4: Fibrosis-4 index; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; HD: Hepatic decompensation; LSM: Liver stiffness measurement; LRM: Liver-related mortality; LRE: Liver-related event; NIT: Non-invasive test; OM: Overall mortality; pre-Rx: Pre-treatment; post-Rx: Post-treatment; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; HIV: Human immunodeficiency virus; SVR: Sustained virologic response; TE: Transient elastography.