Meta-Analysis of Virtual Reality for Pain Relief in ICU Patients, 2015-2026

Thirteen studies involving 979 patients were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. The work evaluates the impact of virtual reality technology on pain levels and analgesic dosage in adult ICU patients, with literature published from January 2015 to February 2026. The dataset is a supplementary document authored by Ping Zhao, licensed under CC-BY-4.0 and last updated in May 2026.

Use Cases

• Assess the efficacy of VR interventions for procedural pain based on the reported pain score reductions.
• Analyze the heterogeneity of evidence on opioid-sparing effects based on the five studies reporting analgesic doses.
• Evaluate the quality of clinical trials in VR for ICU care based on the application of the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool and JBI checklist.
• Investigate the specific impact of nature-based, distraction-focused VR content on acute pain during procedures like chest drain removal.

Strengths

• Includes 13 studies with a total of 979 patients, providing a substantive sample for analysis.
• Applies standardized quality assessment tools (Cochrane Risk of Bias, JBI checklist) and the GRADE system for evidence certainty.
• Reports a statistically significant pain reduction (SMD = -0.66) from seven RCTs using head-mounted VR devices.
• Has a registered systematic review protocol (PROSPERO CRD420251231605), indicating a structured methodology.

Limitations

• The dataset is a 15.5 KB DOC file, suggesting limited raw data and likely consisting of a summary document rather than a primary dataset.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for quantitative analysis.

Provenance

Source

figshare, author Ping Zhao.

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of literature from PubMed and eight other databases.

Time Range

Literature published from January 2015 to February 2026.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-19 05:28:34; freshness should be verified.