Awake prone positioning in non-intubated patients for the management of hypoxemia in COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Submitted: September 26, 2020
Accepted: January 28, 2021
Published: April 22, 2021
Abstract Views: 5333
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Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) may lead to hypoxemia, requiring intensive care in many patients. Awake prone positioning (PP) is reported to improve oxygenation and is a relatively safe modality. We performed a systematic review of the literature to evaluate the available evidence and performed meta-analysis of the effect of awake PP in non-intubated patients on improvement in oxygenation and reducing the need for intubation. We searched the PubMed and EMBASE databases to identify studies using awake PP as a therapeutic strategy in the management of COVID-19. Studies were included if they reported respiratory outcomes and included five or more subjects. The quality of individual studies was assessed by the Qualsyst tool. A meta-analysis was performed to estimate the proportion of patients requiring intubation. The degree of improvement in oxygenation parameters (PaO2: FiO2 or PaO2 or SpO2) was also calculated. Sixteen studies (seven prospective trials, three before-after studies, six retrospective series) were selected for review. The pooled proportion of patients who required mechanical ventilation was 0.25 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.16-0.34). There was a significant improvement in PaO2: FiO2 ratio, PaO2, and SpO2 during awake PP. To conclude, there is limited evidence to support the efficacy of awake PP for the management of hypoxemia in COVID-19. Further RCTs are required to study the impact of awake PP on key parameters like avoidance of mechanical ventilation, length of stay, and mortality.

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How to Cite

PB, Sryma, Saurabh Mittal, Karan Madan, Anant Mohan, Pawan Tiwari, Vijay Hadda, Ravindra Mohan Pandey, and Randeep Guleria. 2021. “Awake Prone Positioning in Non-Intubated Patients for the Management of Hypoxemia in COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis”. Monaldi Archives for Chest Disease 91 (2). https://doi.org/10.4081/monaldi.2021.1623.