Exogenous pulmonary surfactant for the treatment of adult patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome: results of a meta-analysis

Table 3 Principal outcome measures in patients according to type of surfactant and method of delivery

Outcome	Number of trials	Number of patients		Heterogeneity		P value	Fixed-effects model [odds ratio (95% CI)]	Random-effects model [odds ratio (95% CI)]
		Control	Surfactant^a	Q statistic	I ²
Overall mortality	6	631	639	6.00	0.17	0.31	0.99 (0.79, 1.25)	0.97 (0.73, 1.30)
Method of delivery
Aerosolized [16,17]	2	378	381	0.48	0	0.49	0.99 (0.74, 1.32)	-
Intratracheal [18-20]	4	253	258	5.52	0.46	0.14	1.00 (0.69, 1.46)	0.87 (0.48, 1.58)
Type of surfactant
Synthetic [16,17] (no surfactant protein)	2	378	381	2.21	0.55	0.14	1.09 (0.74, 1.60)	1.08 (0.72, 1.64)
Recombinant [19,20] (SP-C)	3	237	239	0.36	0	0.84	0.99 (0.74, 1.32)	-
Recombinant + bovine [18-20] (SP-B and SP-C)	4	253	258	5.52	0.46	0.14	1.00 (0.69, 1.46)	0.87 (0.48, 1.58)

^aIn the studies by Weg and colleagues [16], Gregory and colleagues [18], and Spragg and colleagues [19], those patients who received a comparable surfactant dose (the higher dose) were used for the pooled analysis.

ISSN: 1364-8535