Study quality assessment
We assessed the quality of post-hoc analysis RCTs or observational
cohorts by using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) tool. This tool had
three domains with a total of nine points: the selection of cohorts (0-4
points), the comparability of cohorts (0-2 points), and the assessment
of the outcome (0-3 points). In this meta-analysis, the NOS of ≥6 and
<6 points were moderate-to-high quality and low quality,
respectively.