Study objective: To determine if capnography, in addition to standard monitoring, identified more respiratory complications than standard monitoring alone.
Design: Meta-analysis.
Setting: University medical center.
Measurements: The electronic databases PubMed, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library (Cochrane Reviews, CENTRAL) were searched for studies published between 1995-2009 reporting adverse respiratory events during procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) with clearly defined end-tidal carbon dioxide threshold, adult population, clear study design, P-value calculation, similar outcome and predictor variable definitions, and binary independent and dependent variable raw data. Five such studies were evaluated independently. A meta-analysis of these studies was performed.
Main results: During PSA, cases of respiratory depression were 17.6 times more likely to be detected if monitored by capnography than cases not monitored by capnography (95% CI, 2.5-122.1; P < 0.004).
Conclusion: End-tidal carbon dioxide monitoring is an important addition in detecting respiratory depression during PSA.
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.