Effect of positive end-expiratory pressure on the incidence of acute respiratory distress syndrome in non-acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome patients in ICU: a Meta-analysis

Abstract

To systematically review the therapeutic effect of continuous high positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) ventilation in patients with non-acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome (non-ALI/ARDS) under general anesthesia mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU). PubMed, JBI Evidence-based Nursing Center Library, Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline, Wanfang Date, CNKI and VIP Database were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCT) and clinical controlled trials (CCT) using different levels of PEEP for the treatment of patients (uncombined ALI/ARDS) in ICU. The search period was from January 1st, 1990 to November 30th, 2018. Compared with the control group, the experimental group was treated with relatively high levels of PEEP ventilation. Outcome indicators were hospital mortality or 28-day mortality, partial oxygen pressure, and incidence of ARDS, atelectasis, and lung infections, etc. The RevMan 5.3 software was used for Meta-analysis. Twelve articles were included, all of which were RCT studies; with 2 Chinese articles and 10 English articles. Meta-analysis showd that there was no statistically significant difference in the effect of different levels of PEEP on the mortality of patients [hospital mortality: odds ratio (OR) = 1.06, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) was 0.57 to 1.96, P = 0.85; 28-day mortality: OR = 0.34, 95%CI was 0.09 to 1.32, P = 0.12]. Compared with low PEEP, persistently high PEEP could increase the patient's partial oxygen pressure [weighted mean difference (WMD) = 48.27, 95%CI was 22.56 to 73.97, P = 0.000 2], prevent the occurrence of ARDS (OR = 0.32, 95%CI was 0.13 to 0.82, P = 0.02), and decrease the incidence of lung infection (OR = 0.52, 95%CI was 0.30 to 0.89, P = 0.02), but there was no significant difference in the incidence of atelectasis between the two groups (OR = 0.69, 95%CI was 0.23 to 2.06, P = 0.51). In the treatment of patients in ICU with non-ALI/ARDS under general anesthesia mechanical ventilation, using relatively high levels of PEEP (10-16 cmH2O, 1 cmH2O = 0.098 kPa) instead of low levels of PEEP (≤ 8 cmH2O) can significantly increase the partial oxygen pressure and significantly reduce the incidences of ARDS and lung infection.