EGFR and non-small cell lung carcinoma: In the subgroup analysis of placebo control treatment, we found that female NSCLC patients who received EGFR-TKI therapy had a longer OS than male patients (pooled HR 0.86, 95% CI 0.75-1.00, <i>P</i> = 0.04), while smoking status showed no significant effect on the efficacy of EGFR-TKI treatment in terms of the OS of NSCLC patients in all subgroup analyses.