SynthesisEuropean journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society2022
Evidence for the use of spinal collars in stabilising spinal injuries in the pre-hospital setting in trauma patients: a systematic review.
Synthesis in European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 2 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
4 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cervical spine immobilisation following blunt trauma in pre-hospital and emergency care: A systematic review.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- The Immo Traffic Light System as a Decision-Making Tool for Prehospital Spinal Immobilization—A Systematic ReviewDeutsches Arzteblatt international · 2022Pooled it
- Spinal Motion Restriction for Possible Traumatic Cervical Spine Injury: A Scoping Review.Cureus · 2025Review
- Pre-Hospital and Post-Hospital Quality of Care in Traumatic Spinal Column and Cord Injuries in Iran.Global spine journal · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeSpinal collars were introduced in 1967 into the management of spinal trauma care as it was thought that this technique of immobilisation would prevent any further neurological or spinal damage in high-risk patients. The aim of this systematic review was to determine whether the use of spinal collars in the pre-hospital trauma patient was recommended by published literature.
methodsA systematic search of the literature was conducted between 1990 and 2020, screening PubMed, Medline, Science Direct and Google Scholar. The consequent findings were then qualitatively synthesised with the aim of effectively evaluating the evidence to resolve the discrepancy between current practice and literature.
resultsOf the nine eligible studies, six deemed that spinal collars should not be used in pre-hospital trauma patients with the remaining three reporting uncertainty if spinal collars were best practice. Our results suggest that there is a discrepancy between current guidance and practice in that although the guidelines recommend the use of spinal collars in the pre-hospital setting the majority of the studies were against the use of spinal collars. Importantly, none of the studies reported any benefits of spinal collars.
conclusionOur study shows a disparity between current guidelines and the published literature and warrants further direct research to obtain a more comprehensive view of the use of spinal collars in a pre-hospital setting.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.