Fig. 3

Forest plot of mRSS changes before and after treatment with MSCs of different cell origins. The results showed mRSS score was significantly lower than pretreatment at 6 months of MSCs from different sources treatment (P < 0.05). No significant heterogeneity was observed in any of the three groups, and 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. SVF, stromal vascular fraction; MSCs, mesenchymal stem cells; UC-MSCs, umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells; BMSCs, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells; mRSS, modified Rodnan skin score; CI, confidence interval; SMD, standardized mean difference