Meta-Analysis of Higher vs. Lower PEEP During Thoracic Surgery

A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis synthesizing evidence from 8 randomized controlled trials involving 2,747 patients. The study, authored by Xinrui Yin and published on figshare, evaluates the effects of higher versus lower fixed positive end-expiratory pressure during one-lung ventilation on intraoperative hypotension and postoperative pulmonary complications.

Use Cases

• Evaluating the risk-benefit trade-off of higher PEEP strategies based on pooled risk ratios for hypotension and complications.
• Informing clinical trial design for future studies on individualized PEEP titration.
• Assessing the association between PEEP levels and secondary outcomes like new-onset arrhythmia and rescue hypoxaemia interventions.

Strengths

• Analysis is based on 8 parallel-group randomized controlled trials, a robust study design.
• Includes data from 2,747 patients, providing a substantial sample size.
• Uses GRADE methodology to assess the certainty of evidence, enhancing reliability.

Limitations

• The dataset is a single PDF document; column-level data and raw patient records are not provided.
• Row count for the underlying trial data is unknown, limiting suitability for direct computational analysis.
• The primary analysis includes only 2 studies for each co-primary outcome, which may limit generalizability.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of trials from MEDLINE, Embase, and CENTRAL.

Time Range

Trials searched from database inception to 7 March 2026.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-11 05:28:46.