Under fixed-effect model, significantly poorer overall survival (HR 1.68, 95 % CI 1.07–2.63, P = 0.025) and disease-free survival (HR 2.06, 95 % CI 1.41–3.02, P < 0.001) were found in soft tissue sarcoma patients with expression of HIF-1α.However, under random effect model, the correlation to overall survival was not found to be significant (HR 1.94, 95 % CI 0.98–3.83, P = 0.055), while the correlation to poorer disease-free survival was still significant (HR 2.06, 95 % CI 1.41–3.02, P < 0.001).The heterogeneity was not found to be significant (Table 2). Here, HIF1A is linked to soft tissue sarcoma.