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Table 2 Studies to determine the conversion ratio of each vasopressor agent in our updated NEE formula

From: An updated “norepinephrine equivalent” score in intensive care as a marker of shock severity

Author

Year

Journal

Equipotency with norepinephrine

Epinephrine

Myburgh et al. [29]

2008

Intensive Care Med

There was no difference in the maximal daily infusion dose between norepinephrine and epinephrine

Annane et al. [30]

2007

Lancet

The doses of vasopressors needed to achieve the mean arterial pressure target were not different between epinephrine and norepinephrine

Dopamine

Marik et al. [32]

1994

JAMA

26 µg/kg/min of dopamine was equivalent to 0.18 µg/kg/min of norepinephrine

De Backer et al. [31]

2003

Crit Care Med

The median dose of dopamine was 15 µg/kg/min, while that of norepinephrine was 0.18 µg/kg/min

De Backer et al. [33]

2010

New England Journal of Medicine

The dose of dopamine was consistently 100 times as much as that of norepinephrine during seven days after randomization

Phenylephrine

Reinelt et al. [34]

1999

Crit Care Med

3.2 µg/kg/min of phenylephrine was equipotent to 0.2 µg/kg/min of norepinephrine

Ngan Kee et al. [35]

2015

Anesthesiology

39.1 µg/min of phenylephrine was equivalent to 2.4 µg/min of norepinephrine

Vasopressin

Russell et al. [13] (VASST)

2008

New England Journal of Medicine

The addition of 0.03 U/min of vasopressin reduced 7.5 µg/min of norepinephrine

Gordon et al. [36]

2016

JAMA

The addition of 0.06 U/min of vasopressin reduced norepinephrine dose by 0.15 µg/kg/min

Other vasopressor agents

Khanna et al. [15]

2017

New England Journal of Medicine

20 ng/kg/min of angiotensin II infusion resulted in a mean reduction of 0.05 µg/kg/min of norepinephrine compared with the placebo

Liu et al. [37]

2018

Intensive Care Med

The dose of terlipressin required to reach the mean arterial pressure target was ten times lower than that norepinephrine dose

Natalini et al. [38]

2005

Intensive Care Med

2.5 μg/kg/min of metaraminol corresponded to 0.3 μg/kg/min of norepinephrine

Patel et al. [39]

2022

Chest

5 g of hydroxocobalamin reduced norepinephrine requirement by 0.08 µg/kg/min

Adly et al. [40]

2022

Ir J Med Sci

30 mg/day of midodrine reduced 73 mg of norepinephrine during six days

Kirov et al. [41]

2001

Crit Care Med

Methylene blue infusion ranged from 0.25 to 2 mg/kg/h, while norepinephrine ranged from 0.1 to 0.7 µg/kg/min