Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35962218›Full record

SynthesisEuropean journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society2023

A systematic review of the timing of intubation in patients with traumatic brain injury: pre-hospital versus in-hospital intubation.

Archchana Radhakrishnan, Claire McCahill, Ranjit Singh Atwal, Sumitra Lahiri

Abstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Are the life-saving interventions really life-saving?Trauma surgery & acute care open · 2025
    Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Traumatic brain injury: the research continues with higher data quality evolving!European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2023
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Archchana RadhakrishnanAnaesthetic Department, The Royal London Hospital, London, E1 1FR, UK. archchana.radhakrishnan@nhs.net.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5138-8242
Claire McCahillAnaesthetic Department, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, WC1N 3JH, UK.
Ranjit Singh AtwalAnaesthetic Department, Medway Maritime Hospital, Kent, ME7 5NY, UK.
Sumitra LahiriAnaesthetic Department, The Royal London Hospital, London, E1 1FR, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThe objective of this systematic review was to examine current evidence on the risks versus benefit of pre-hospital intubation when compared with in-hospital intubation in adult patients with traumatic brain injuries.

methodsWe conducted electronic searches of PubMed, Medline, Embase, CIANHL and the Cochrane library up to March 2021. Data extracted compared mortality, length of hospital and intensive care stay, pneumonia and functional outcomes in traumatic brain injured patients undergoing pre-hospital intubation versus in-hospital intubation. The risk of bias was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation.

resultsTen studies including 25,766 patients were analysed. Seven were retrospective studies, two prospective cohort studies and one randomised control study. The mean mortality rate in patients who underwent pre-hospital intubation was 44.5% and 31.98% for in-hospital intubation. The odds ratio for an effect of pre-hospital intubation on mortality ranged from 0.31 (favouring in-hospital intubation) to 3.99 (favouring pre-hospital). The overall quality of evidence is low; however, the only randomised control study showed an improved functional outcome for pre-hospital intubation at 6 months.

conclusionsThe existing evidence does not support widespread pre-hospital intubation in all traumatic brain injured patients. This does not, however, contradict the need for the intervention when there is severe airway compromise; instead, it must be assessed by experienced personnel if a time critical transfer to hospital is more advantageous. Favourable neurological outcomes highlighted by the randomised control trial favours pre-hospital intubation, but further research is required in this field.

Indexed as

Brain Injuries, TraumaticAdultHospitalsHumansIntubation, IntratrachealProspective StudiesRetrospective StudiesEndotracheal intubationHead injuryPre-hospital intubationTraumatic brain injury

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.