• Zhangning Fu, Xiuzhen Hao, Yangfan Lv, Quan Hong, Zhe Feng, and Chao Liu.
• Department of Nephrology, First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Kidney Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Kidney Diseases, Beijing Key Laboratory of Kidney Diseases Research, Beijing, 100853, China.
• Bmc Med. 2024 Sep 20; 22 (1): 408408.

BackgroundAlthough electronic alerts are being increasingly implemented in patients with acute kidney injury (AKI), their effect remains unclear. Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis aiming at investigating their impact on the care and outcomes of AKI patients.MethodsPubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Clinical Trial Registries databases were systematically searched for relevant studies from inception to March 2024. Randomized controlled trials comparing electronic alerts with usual care in patients with AKI were selected.ResultsSix studies including 40,146 patients met the inclusion criteria. The pooled results showed that electronic alerts did not improve mortality rates (relative risk (RR) = 1.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.97-1.08, P = 0.44) or reduce creatinine levels (mean difference (MD) =  - 0.21, 95% CI =  - 1.60-1.18, P = 0.77) and AKI progression (RR = 0.97, 95% CI = 0.90-1.04, P = 0.40). Instead, electronic alerts increased the odds of dialysis and AKI documentation (RR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.05-1.25, P = 0.002; RR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.01-1.44, P = 0.04, respectively), but the trial sequential analysis (TSA) could not confirm these results. No differences were observed in other care-centered outcomes including renal consults and investigations between the alert and usual care groups.ConclusionsElectronic alerts increased the incidence of AKI and dialysis in AKI patients, which likely reflected improved recognition and early intervention. However, these changes did not improve the survival or kidney function of AKI patients. The findings warrant further research to comprehensively evaluate the impact of electronic alerts.© 2024. The Author(s).

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