ReviewAnnals of intensive care2017
Patient-important outcomes in randomized controlled trials in critically ill patients: a systematic review.
Review in Annals of intensive care, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
64 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- ADJUNCTIVE VASOPRESSORS AND SHORT-TERM MORTALITY IN ADULTS WITH SEPTIC SHOCK: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS.Shock (Augusta, Ga.) · 2025Pooled it
- Non-adrenergic vasopressors for vasodilatory shock or perioperative vasoplegia: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Critical care (London, England) · 2024Pooled it
- Composite outcome measures in high-impact critical care randomised controlled trials: a systematic review.Critical care (London, England) · 2024Pooled it
- Effects on health-related quality of life of interventions affecting survival in critically ill patients: a systematic review.Critical care (London, England) · 2022Pooled it
- Methodological quality of multivariate prognostic models for intracranial haemorrhages in intensive care units: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2021Pooled it
- Understanding and Enhancing Sepsis Survivorship. Priorities for Research and Practice.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Outcomes used in randomised controlled trials of nutrition in the critically ill: a systematic review.Critical care (London, England) · 2019Pooled it
- Use of days alive without life support and similar count outcomes in randomised clinical trials - an overview and comparison of methodological choices and analysis methods.BMC medical research methodology · 2023Trial
- Article
- Association between organ dysfunction during ICU stay and post-intensive care syndrome at 1 year after ICU discharge: a prospective cohort study.Journal of intensive care · 2026Article
- Costs and complications of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy in Australia and New Zealand.Critical care (London, England) · 2026Observational
- Rinaldo Bellomo and the evolution of critical care survivorship.Critical care and resuscitation : journal of the Australasian Academy of Critical Care Medicine · 2025Article
- Pediatric Transplant and Cellular Therapy Consortium RESILIENT Conference on Pediatric Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease Survivorship After Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: Part IV. Patient Important Outcomes.Transplantation and cellular therapy · 2025Article
- Developing Core Outcome (Measurement) Sets for Critical Care Research Using the Modified Delphi Method: A Narrative Review.CHEST critical care · 2025Article
- Pragmatic Clinical Trials: A Study Design for Real-World Evidence.The American journal of nursing · 2025Article
- [Post-Intensive Care Syndrome: functional impairments of critical illness survivors].Die Anaesthesiologie · 2025Review
- Article
- Article
- Emphasizing Patient-centered Outcomes and Improved Exclusion Criteria in Randomized Controlled Trials for Clinical Nutrition in Critically Ill Patients.Indian journal of critical care medicine : peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine · 2024Article
- Current indications and surgical strategies for myocardial revascularization in patients with left ventricular dysfunction: a scoping review.Journal of cardiothoracic surgery · 2024Article
4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIntensivists' clinical decision making pursues two main goals for patients: to decrease mortality and to improve quality of life and functional status in survivors. Patient-important outcomes are gaining wide acceptance in most fields of clinical research. We sought to systematically review how well patient-important outcomes are reported in published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in critically ill patients.
methodsLiterature search was conducted to identify eligible trials indexed from January to December 2013. Articles were eligible if they reported an RCT involving critically ill adult patients. We excluded phase II, pilot and physiological crossover studies. We assessed study characteristics. All primary and secondary outcomes were collected, described and classified using six categories of outcomes including patient-important outcomes (involving mortality at any time on the one hand and quality of life, functional/cognitive/neurological outcomes assessed after ICU discharge on the other).
resultsOf the 716 articles retrieved in 2013, 112 RCTs met the inclusion criteria. Most common topics were mechanical ventilation (27%), sepsis (19%) and nutrition (17%). Among the 112 primary outcomes, 27 (24%) were patient-important outcomes (mainly mortality, 21/27) but only six (5%) were patient-important outcomes besides mortality assessed after ICU discharge (functional disability = 4; quality of life = 2). Among the 598 secondary outcomes, 133 (22%) were patient-important outcomes (mainly mortality, 92/133) but only 41 (7%) were patient-important outcomes besides mortality assessed after ICU discharge (quality of life = 20, functional disability = 14; neurological/cognitive performance = 5; handicap = 1; post-traumatic stress = 1). Seventy-three RCTs (65%) reported at least one patient-important outcome but only 11 (10%) reported at least one patient-important outcome besides mortality assessed after ICU discharge.
conclusionPatient-important outcomes are rarely primary outcomes in RCTs in critically ill patients published in 2013. Among them, mortality accounted for the majority. We promote the use of patient-important outcomes in critical care trials.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.