PRONE POSITIONING IN NONINTUBATED PATIENTS WITH COVID-19: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT

TOPIC Chest Infections TYPE Original Investigations PURPOSE: Prone positioning (PP) in awake patients has been recently proposed as an adjunctive treatment for spontaneously breathing non-intubated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients requiring oxygen therapy to reduce the risk of intubation. However, the magnitude of the effect of PP on clinical outcomes (e.g., the risk of endotracheal intubation, intensive care unit [ICU] admission, or mortality) in these patients remains uncertain. Therefore, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of PP to improve the clinical outcomes in non-intubated patients with COVID-19. METHODS: We performed a comprehensive literature search using PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases from inception through February 24, 2020 for all the studies all studies that all compared PP versus no PP in non-intubated patients with COVID-19. The primary outcome of interest was the rate of endotracheal intubation. The secondary outcomes were in-hospital mortality and intensive care unit (ICU) rates. Pooled odds risk (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were obtained by the Mantel-Haenszel method within a random-effect model. RESULTS: A total of five studies (two randomized controlled trials and three observational studies), involving 470 non-intubated patients with COVID-19 (185 patients received PP and 285 did not) were included. The mean age was 59.82 years, and males represented 67% of total patients. The follow-up period ranged from 14 to 30 days. The endotracheal intubation rate was similar between PP and control groups (OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.41-1.35, P = 0.33, I2 = 20%). There was no difference in the in-hospital mortality rate between the two groups (OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.16-2.85, P = 0.60, I2 = 60%). Four studies reported the risk of ICU admission and demonstrated no difference between the two groups (OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.30-1.95, P = 0.58, I2 = 37%). CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis demonstrated that prone positioning in non-intubated COVID-19 patients did not reduce the risk of endotracheal intubation. Furthermore, PP failed to reduce in-hospital mortality and ICU admission rates. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS Although our meta-analysis showed that prone positioning might not reduce the risks of intubation, in-hospital mortality, or ICU admission rate in spontaneously breathing non-intubated COVID-19 patients, more large-scale trials with a standardized protocol for prone positioning are needed to better evaluate the effectiveness of prone positioning in this select population. DISCLOSURES No relevant relationships by Ragheb Assaly, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Hazem Ayesh, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Azizullah Beran Beran, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Sami Ghazaleh, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Waleed Khokher, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Saif-Eddin Malhas, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Aadil Maqsood, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Reem Matar, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Mohammed Mhanna, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Omar Sajdeya, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Omar Srour, source=Web Response