Fig. 4From: Regional citrate versus heparin anticoagulation for continuous renal replacement therapy in critically ill patients: a meta-analysis with trial sequential analysis of randomized controlled trialsEffect of regional citrate versus heparin anticoagulation on circuit life span (continuous venovenous haemofiltration (CVVH) and continuous venovenous haemodiafiltration (CVVHDF) subgroup analysis). a Circuit life span. b-g Complete blue line represents the cumulative Z-curve, complete red line represents the trial sequential monitoring boundary for benefit and etched green line represents the conventional boundary for benefit. b The DerSimonian-Laird (DL) approach used for all trials. A diversity-adjusted information size of 1219 circuits was calculated on the basis of a mean difference (MD) of 15.43, variance of 167.21, I 2 = 98.11 %, α = 5 % (two sided) and β = 20 %. Cumulative Z-curve crosses the trial sequential monitoring boundary for benefit and reaches the required information size. c The Sidik-Jonkman (SJ) approach used for all trials. A diversity-adjusted information size of 5196 circuits was calculated on the basis of a MD of 17.14, variance of 167.21, I 2 = 99.65 %, α = 5 % (two sided) and β = 20 %. The cumulative Z-curve crosses the conventional boundary for benefit but not the trial sequential monitoring boundary for benefit. d The DL approach used for the CVVH subgroup. A diversity-adjusted information size of 1033 circuits was calculated on the basis of a MD of 8.18, variance of 110.0, I 2 = 94.97 %, α = 5 % (two sided) and β = 20 %. The cumulative Z-curve crosses both the conventional boundary and the trial sequential monitoring boundary. e The SJ approach used for the CVVH subgroup. A diversity-adjusted information size of 3851 circuits was calculated on the basis of a MD of 11.08, variance of 110.0, I 2 = 99.25 %, α = 5 % (two sided) and β = 20 %. The cumulative Z-curve crosses the conventional boundary, but not the trial sequential monitoring boundary. f, g The DL and SJ approaches used for the CVVHDF subgroup. The cumulative Z-curve does not cross the conventional boundary or the trial sequential monitoring boundary. NL The Netherlands, CN, China, AU Australia, DE Germany, BE Belgium, IV Inverse VarianceBack to article page