ArticleAcute and critical care2021
Impact of prone position on outcomes of COVID-19 patients with spontaneous breathing.
Article in Acute and critical care, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
9 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of Prone Positioning in Non-ARDS Patients With Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.The clinical respiratory journal · 2026Pooled it
- Conscious prone positioning in nonintubated COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome: systematic review and meta-analysis.Critical care science · 2024Pooled it
- Awake prone positioning for patients with COVID-19-related respiratory failure: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Internal and emergency medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of prone position in COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of medical research · 2022Pooled it
- The effect of prone position on oxygen saturation, blood gas parameters, and respiratory rate in intensive care patients with COVID-19-induced ARDS.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- [Effect of awake prone positioning in non-intubated patients with community-acquired pneumonia complicated by hypoxemia].Medecine tropicale et sante internationale · 2025Review
- Awake prone positioning for COVID-19 acute hypoxemic respiratory failure in Tunisia.Acute and critical care · 2023Article
- Gravity-induced ischemia in the brain and prone positioning for COVID-19 patients breathing spontaneously: still far from the truth!Acute and critical care · 2022Article
- Gravity-induced ischemia in the brain-and prone positioning for COVID-19 patients breathing spontaneously.Acute and critical care · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn this study, we explored whether early application of the prone position (PP) can improve severe hypoxemia and respiratory failure in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with spontaneous breathing.
methodsThis is a prospective observational study of severe, critically ill adult COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit. All vital parameters were recorded in real time for all patients. Moreover, the results of chest computed tomography (CT), when available, were analyzed.
resultsPP was applied in 21 patients who were breathing spontaneously. The application of PP was associated with a significant increase in oxygen saturation measured by pulse oximetry (SpO2) from 82%±12% to 96%±3% (P<0.001) 1 hour later. Moreover, PP was associated with a significant reduction in respiratory rate from 31±10 to 21±4 breaths/min (P<0.001). Furthermore, the number of patients who exhibited signs of respiratory distress after PP was reduced from 10 (47%) to 3 (14%) (P=0.04). Early PP application also led to a clear improvement on CT imaging. It was not, however, associated with a reduction in mortality rate or in the use of invasive mechanical ventilation (P>0.05 for both).
conclusionsOur study confirmed that the early application of PP can improve hypoxemia and tachypnea in COVID-19 patients with spontaneous breathing. Randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm the beneficial effects of PP in COVID-19 patients with spontaneous breathing.
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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.