Background: COVID-19 patients frequently develop severe Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure (AHRF) and many patients have received a Helmet CPAP (H-CPAP) to enhance oxygenation and avoid intubation. The current meta-analysis aimed to assess the efficacy of helmet CPAP in treating adult patients with COVID-19.
Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) reporting guideline was followed. Comprehensive databases including PubMed, Web of Science as well as a web search engine (Google Scholar). In addition, we scanned through the reference lists of all primary research and review articles for further studies that might be relevant.
Result: A total of 10 studies were included in the analysis. The observed log odds ratios ranged from -4.7653 to 2.7726. According to the Q-test (chi-square), the true outcomes appear to be high heterogeneous (Q (9)=117.7975, p<0.0001, tau2=4.2264, I2=96.5472%). 3.7453 to 4.7374 give a 95% prediction interval for the true outcomes. Hence, there is a significant effect after the use of CPAP to treat COVID-19 or suppress its effects.
Conclusion: There is a significant effectiveness of helmets CPAP in treating COVID-19 patients where most studies indicated the benefit of using the helmets. Nine studies showed significant decrease in death number (less than 20%) with 95% CI (0.147-0.418), p-value<0.001 and only one study showed the opposite.
Published Date: 2024-07-29; Received Date: 2023-08-22
