SynthesisCritical care (London, England)2023
Propofol and survival: an updated meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.
Synthesis in Critical care (London, England), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers, 5 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
50 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 83 citations in OpenAlex.
- Oral mucositis risk with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor monotherapies and combination regimens in non-small cell lung cancer: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- The economic burden of anesthetic-related adverse events: a systematic review and empirical analysis.BMC anesthesiology · 2025Pooled it
- Volatile sedation in critically ill adults undergoing mechanical ventilation: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Critical care (London, England) · 2025Pooled it
- 2024 EACTS/EACTAIC/EBCP Guidelines on cardiopulmonary bypass in adult cardiac surgery.British journal of anaesthesia · 2025Guideline
- A meta-analysis and systematic review based on perioperative management of elderly patients: is ciprofol an alternative to propofol?European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Remimazolam Reduces the Cough Reflexes in Elderly Patients Undergoing Fiberoptic Bronchoscopy Under Remifentanil/Cipepofol-Based Anaesthesia: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Drug design, development and therapy · 2026Trial
- Addition of sufentanil to fospropofol disodium during induction of general anesthesia shortens time to sedation onset in elderly patients: a randomized controlled trial.BMC anesthesiology · 2025Trial
- The effects of ciprofol on haemodynamics under general anaesthesia during thoracoscopic surgery: a randomised, double-blind, controlled trial.BMC anesthesiology · 2025Trial
- Propranolol As an Anxiolytic to Reduce the Use of Sedatives for Critically Ill Adults Receiving Mechanical Ventilation (PROACTIVE): An Open-Label Randomized Controlled Trial.Critical care medicine · 2025Trial
- Efficacy and safety of ciprofol for general anesthesia induction in female patients with frailty: a prospective randomized controlled trial.BMC anesthesiology · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Propofol in Perioperative Management of Head and Neck Cancer: A Narrative Review of Molecular Mechanisms and Clinical Implications.Current issues in molecular biology · 2026Review
- Light therapy in medicine: where do we stand?Annals of translational medicine · 2026Review
- Remimazolam vs. propofol for prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting in laparoscopic gynecological surgery: a randomized non-inferiority trial.Perioperative medicine (London, England) · 2026Article
- Pharmacovigilance and toxicological studies on safety signals associated with the combined use of propofol and midazolam.BMC anesthesiology · 2026Article
- Exploring the median effective dose of ciprofol for anesthesia induction in patients with heart valve disease: a prospective, single-arm, single-centre study.BMC anesthesiology · 2026Article
- Protecting clinician autonomy and patient safety within the climate debate: the case for desflurane in modern anaesthesia.Current opinion in anaesthesiology · 2026Review
- Porous Baicalin-Fe(III) ICP@Propofol nanocomposites for enhanced anesthetic efficacy and reduced toxicity via neuroprotection and ultrasound assistance.Asian journal of pharmaceutical sciences · 2026Article
- Recovery Kinetics and Postoperative Outcomes of Propofol-Based Total Intravenous Anesthesia Versus Sevoflurane in Ambulatory Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Studies.Anesthesiology research and practice · 2026Review
- Study protocol for the use of propofol in adult intensive care unit patients: a secondary analysis of an extensive international database.Critical care science · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPropofol is one of the most widely used hypnotic agents in the world. Nonetheless, propofol might have detrimental effects on clinically relevant outcomes, possibly due to inhibition of other interventions' organ protective properties. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to evaluate if propofol reduced survival compared to any other hypnotic agent in any clinical setting.
methodsWe searched eligible studies in PubMed, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane Register of Clinical Trials. The following inclusion criteria were used: random treatment allocation and comparison between propofol and any comparator in any clinical setting. The primary outcome was mortality at the longest follow-up available. We conducted a fixed-effects meta-analysis for the risk ratio (RR). Using this RR and 95% confidence interval, we estimated the probability of any harm (RR > 1) through Bayesian statistics. We registered this systematic review and meta-analysis in PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42022323143).
resultsWe identified 252 randomized trials comprising 30,757 patients. Mortality was higher in the propofol group than in the comparator group (760/14,754 [5.2%] vs. 682/16,003 [4.3%]; RR = 1.10; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.20; p = 0.03; I
conclusionsPropofol may reduce survival in perioperative and critically ill patients. This needs careful assessment of the risk versus benefit of propofol compared to other agents while planning for large, pragmatic multicentric randomized controlled trials to provide a definitive answer.
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.