Intensive care medicine
-
Intensive care medicine · Mar 2014
Meta AnalysisProne positioning reduces mortality from acute respiratory distress syndrome in the low tidal volume era: a meta-analysis.
Prone positioning for ARDS has been performed for decades without definitive evidence of clinical benefit. A recent multicenter trial demonstrated for the first time significantly reduced mortality with prone positioning. This meta-analysis was performed to integrate these findings with existing literature and test whether differences in tidal volume explain conflicting results among randomized trials. ⋯ Prone positioning is associated with significantly reduced mortality from ARDS in the low tidal volume era. Substantial heterogeneity across studies can be explained by differences in tidal volume.