• Carlos Lipscombe, Hamed Akhlaghi, Christopher Groombridge, Stephen Bernard, Karen Smith, and Alexander Olaussen.
• Department of Paramedicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
• Prehosp Emerg Care. 2023 Jan 1; 27 (8): 101610301016-1030.

BackgroundKetamine is a fast-acting, dissociative anesthetic with a favorable adverse effect profile that is effective for managing acute agitation as a chemical restraint in the prehospital and emergency department (ED) settings. However, some previously published individual studies have reported high intubation rates when ketamine was administered prehospitally.ObjectiveThis systematic review aims to determine the rate and settings in which intubation following prehospital administration of ketamine for agitation is occurring, as well as associated indications and adverse events.MethodsWe searched PubMed, Scopus, Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL Plus, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov, OpenGrey, Open Access Theses and Dissertation, and Google Scholar from the earliest possible date until 13/February/2022. Inclusion criteria required studies to describe agitated patients who received ketamine in the prehospital setting as a first-line drug to control acute agitation. Reference lists of appraised studies were screened for additional relevant articles. Study quality was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scale. Synthesis of results was completed via meta-analysis, and the GRADE tool was used for certainty assessment.ResultsThe search yielded 1466 unique records and abstracts, of which 50 full texts were reviewed, resulting in 18 being included in the analysis. All studies were observational in nature and 15 were from USA. There were 3476 patients in total, and the overall rate of intubation was 16% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 8%-26%). Most intubations occurred in the ED. Within the studies, the prehospital intubation rate ranged from 0% to 7.9% and the ED intubation rate ranged from 0 to 60%. The overall pooled prehospital intubation rate was 1% (95% CI = 0%-2%). The overall pooled ED intubation rate was 19% (95% CI = 11%-30%). The most common indications for intubation were for airway protection and respiratory depression/failure.ConclusionsThere is wide variation in intubation rates between and within studies. The majority of intubations performed following prehospital administration of ketamine for agitation took place in the ED.

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