Prone positioning may lower mortality in acute respiratory distress syndrome
An intensive-care evidence review favored prone positioning, while estimates for several other add-on therapies remained very uncertain.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
For adults with acute respiratory distress syndrome, the analysis suggests that prone positioning alongside lung-protective ventilation may reduce deaths over the follow-up period. An open lung strategy did not reduce mortality. Findings for several other therapies were very uncertain, so the abstract supports a cautious interpretation of differences among intensive-care approaches.
Mortality was extrapolated to 180 days in 16 trials, creating possible differences from observed event rates. This abstract-based summary therefore includes modeled longer-term outcomes, and the comparative effect size for prone positioning is not provided.
What researchers found
Mortality by 180 days
Prone positioning plus lung-protective ventilation versus lung-protective ventilation alone; the abstract gives a direction of effect without a comparative numerical estimate.
Comparing survival patterns
The review compared survival patterns for treatments added to lung-protective ventilation. Prone positioning places patients on their front; the analysis used published survival curves to assess deaths during follow-up.
Other estimates were uncertain
Possible mortality reductions with extracorporeal support, neuromuscular blockade and corticosteroids were rated very uncertain. High-frequency oscillatory ventilation might increase mortality, also with very uncertain evidence; these signals should not be treated as settled treatment rankings.
The original publication
Effect of therapeutic interventions combined with lung-protective ventilation on long-term mortality of patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome: a network meta-analysis.
Aoyama H, Uchida K, Aoyama K et al.
Can J Anaesth · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 41781628
- Record checked
AI-assisted research and writing. This explains one selected publication; it is not a complete review of everything known. Our approach.
One more question, understood.
Keep track of the research you’ve explored.