Fig. 7
Forest plot of MHISS changes before and after treatment with MSCs. Only two studies showed after treatment with MSCs, MHISS score in SSc patients was significantly lower than pretreatment at 12 months (P < 0.05). Since heterogeneity was observed (I2 = 57%), a random-effects model was used. 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. MHISS, mouth handicap in systemic sclerosis scale; MSCs, mesenchymal stem cells; CI, confidence interval; SMD, standardized mean difference