ArticleCritical care and resuscitation : journal of the Australasian Academy of Critical Care Medicine2025
Prevalence and characteristics of metaraminol usage in a large intensive care patient cohort. A multicentre, retrospective, observational study.
Article in Critical care and resuscitation : journal of the Australasian Academy of Critical Care Medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
18 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Noradrenaline is the most prescribed vasopressor in intensive care units (ICUs). Although there is limited supporting evidence, metaraminol is often used as an alternative agent in some regions. We aimed to describe current practice and elucidate the factors associated with metaraminol prescription in a large cohort of ICU patients. Method: A multicenter, retrospective cohort study of granular, routinely collected electronic medical record-based clinical data was performed in 12 ICUs in Queensland, Australia, between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2021. Patients who received at least four consecutive hours of either metaraminol or noradrenaline in the first 24 h of their ICU stay were included. Results: In total, 17,432 patients received single-agent vasopressor therapy and 1,963 (11.3 %) patients were administered metaraminol. For the entire cohort, the median age was 61 (interquartile range, IQR: 47-71), and the median Charlson Comorbidity Index was 3 (IQR: 1-5). The patients who received metaraminol had less ischaemic heart disease (5.5 % vs 7.6 %; p < 0.001) and were more likely to have localised cancer (16 % vs 14 %; p < 0.004). The patients receiving metaraminol were less likely to be ventilated on admission (39 % vs 73 %; p < 0.001) and had lower median Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation III scores (51 vs 56; p < 0.001). The median duration of metaraminol was 10 h (IQR: 6-18) and two-thirds (65 %) did not convert to noradrenaline infusion. After adjustment for confounders, after-hours admission (odds ratio, OR: 1.55; 95 % confidence interval [CI]: 1.40-1.71; p < 0.001), treatment limitation orders (OR: 1.35; 95 % CI: 1.10-1.64; p < 0.004), and admission to a regional ICU (OR: 1.47; 95 % CI: 1.27-1.68; p < 0.001) were independently associated with metaraminol use. Conclusion: Metaraminol is a widely used vasoconstrictor in Queensland ICUs. Patients who receive metaraminol have specific characteristics but are overall less unwell than patients who receive noradrenaline. Most patients who receive metaraminol do not require an alternative vasoactive medication.
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.