Table 3 Results of bivariate meta-regression for prevalence of HCV infection in β-thalassemia patients in Pakistan
Covariate | Category | Number of Studies | Meta-regression Coefficient (%) | p-value | Variance explained R2 (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Geographical region (Province) | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 8 | 1 | 26.97 | |
Punjab | 11 | 0.1873 | 0.0306 | ||
Sindh | 6 | 0.0447 | 0.6582 | ||
Year of publication | 27 | −0.0098 | 0.1176 | 1.33 | |
Year of study | 21 | −0.0076 | 0.3058 | 0.00 | |
Sample size | < 100 | 8 | 1 | 2.92 | |
> = 100 | 19 | −0.1329 | 0.1187 | ||
Proportion of males | 23 | −0.0003 | 0.9189 | 0.00 | |
Average age of patients | 25 | − 0.0058 | 0.6598 | 3.41 | |
Sample size, continuous | 27 | −0.0098 | 0.1176 | 1.33 |