BMJ : British medical journal
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Review Meta Analysis
Systematic review and meta-analysis of studies of the timing of tracheostomy in adult patients undergoing artificial ventilation.
To compare outcomes in critically ill patients undergoing artificial ventilation who received a tracheostomy early or late in their treatment. ⋯ In critically ill adult patients who require prolonged mechanical ventilation, performing a tracheostomy at an earlier stage than is currently practised may shorten the duration of artificial ventilation and length of stay in intensive care.
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Review Comparative Study
Systematic review to determine whether participation in a trial influences outcome.
To systematically compare the outcomes of participants in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with those in comparable non-participants who received the same or similar treatment. ⋯ No strong evidence was found of a harmful or beneficial effect of participating in RCTs compared with receiving the same or similar treatment outside such trials.
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To compare how allocation concealment is described in publications of randomised clinical trials and corresponding protocols, and to estimate how often trial publications with unclear allocation concealment have adequate concealment according to the protocol. ⋯ Most randomised clinical trials have unclear allocation concealment on the basis of the trial publication alone. Most of these trials also have unclear allocation concealment according to their protocol.