Fig. 6
A Forest plot of AST at different time points with the combination therapy compared with traditional therapy. Compared with the traditional therapy group, AST in the combination therapy group was nonsignificantly lower at 12, and 24 weeks (P > 0.05), significantly lower at 4 weeks (P < 0.05). Since significant heterogeneity was observed in one group (I2 = 73%), a random-effects model was used. B Forest plot of CTP at different time points with the combination therapy compared with traditional therapy. Compared with the traditional therapy group, CTP in the combination therapy group was significantly lower at 4, 12, and 24 weeks (P < 0.05). No significant heterogeneity was observed; therefore, a fixed-effects model was used for statistical analysis. In the plane rectangular coordinate system, the forest plot takes a vertical invalid line (scale of abscissa is 0) as the center, describes the effect quantity and 95% CI of each study by using multiple line segments parallel to the horizontal axis, and describes the effect quantity and confidence interval of multiple studies by using a diamond. AST, aspartate aminotransferase; CTP, Child–Pugh score; CI, confidence interval. SMD, standardized mean difference. WMD, weighted mean difference