Safety and Efficacy of Volatile Anesthetic Agents Compared With Standard Intravenous Midazolam/Propofol Sedation in Ventilated Critical Care Patients: A Meta-analysis and Systematic Review of Prospective Trials
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Inhalation agents are being used in place of intravenous agents to provide sedation in some intensive care units. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective randomized controlled trials, which compared the use of volatile agents versus intravenous midazolam or propofol in critical care units. METHODS: A search was conducted using MEDLINE (1946-2015), EMBASE (1947-2015), Web of Science index (1900-2015), and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Eligible studies included randomized controlled trials comparing inhaled volatile (desflurane, sevoflurane, and isoflurane) sedation to intravenous midazolam or propofol. Primary outcome assessed the effect of volatile-based sedation on extubation times (time between discontinuing sedation and tracheal extubation). Secondary outcomes included time to obey verbal commands, proportion of time spent in target sedation, nausea and vomiting, mortality, length of intensive care unit, and length of hospital stay. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I statistic. Outcomes were assessed using a random or fixed-effects model depending on heterogeneity. RESULTS: Eight trials with 523 patients comparing all volatile agents with intravenous midazolam or propofol showed a reduction in extubation times using volatile agents (difference in means, -52.7 minutes; 95% confidence interval [CI], -75.1 to -30.3; P < .00001). Reductions in extubation time were greater when comparing volatiles with midazolam (difference in means, -292.2 minutes; 95% CI, -384.4 to -200.1; P < .00001) than propofol (difference in means, -29.1 minutes; 95% CI, -46.7 to -11.4; P = .001). There was no significant difference in time to obey verbal commands, proportion of time spent in target sedation, adverse events, death, or length of hospital stay. CONCLUSIONS: Volatile-based sedation demonstrates a reduction in time to extubation, with no increase in short-term adverse outcomes. Marked study heterogeneity was present, and the results show marked positive publication bias. However, a reduction in extubation time was still evident after statistical correction of publication bias. Larger clinical trials are needed to further evaluate the role of these agents as sedatives for critically ill patients.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.022 | 0.054 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.022 | 0.053 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.008 | 0.008 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.004 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".