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Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

Nitrous oxide‐based versus nitrous oxide‐free general anaesthesia and accidental awareness during general anaesthesia in surgical patients

Overview of attention for article published in Cochrane database of systematic reviews, August 2016
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Title
Nitrous oxide‐based versus nitrous oxide‐free general anaesthesia and accidental awareness during general anaesthesia in surgical patients
Published in
Cochrane database of systematic reviews, August 2016
DOI 10.1002/14651858.cd011052.pub2
Pubmed ID
Authors

Juliet Hounsome, Amanda Nicholson, Janette Greenhalgh, Tim M Cook, Andrew F Smith, Sharon R Lewis

Abstract

Accidental awareness during general anaesthesia (AAGA) is when a patient unintentionally becomes conscious during a procedure performed with general anaesthesia and subsequently has explicit recall of this event. Incidence estimates for AAGA vary, with the most common estimate being one to two cases per 1000 general anaesthetics. Evidence linking nitrous oxide use and an increased risk of AAGA has come from observational studies data but the literature is contradictory, with some studies finding a protective effect of nitrous oxide. To assess the effect of general anaesthesia including nitrous oxide on the risk of AAGA in patients aged five years and over. We searched the following databases: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE and trial registers ((www.clinicaltrials.gov), the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (www.who.int/ictrp/network/en/) and Current Controlled Trials (www.isrctn.com/)) for eligible studies on December 9 2015. In addition, we conducted forward and backward citation searching using key identified papers. We considered all randomized controlled trials (RCTs), including quasi-randomized studies and cluster-randomized studies, of participants aged five years or older receiving general anaesthesia for any type of surgery.We included trials in which participants receiving general anaesthesia that included nitrous oxide for maintenance at a concentration of at least 30% were compared with participants receiving no nitrous oxide during general anaesthesia. The intervention group must have received nitrous oxide in conjunction with an additional anaesthetic. We excluded studies where the depth of anaesthesia differed between the study arms. For inclusion in the review, studies needed to state in their methods that they planned to assess AAGA. We defined this as when a patient becomes conscious during a procedure performed with general anaesthesia and subsequently has explicit recall of this event. We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane to identify studies. We extracted data and conducted 'Risk of bias' assessment using the Covidence database. We included 15 studies. The total number of participants included in the analyses was 3520. Most studies were small with fewer than 120 participants, although two larger studies with 2012 and 671 participants were included. There was considerable variation in many of the study characteristics, including the anaesthetics used. The concentrations of nitrous oxide varied between 50% and 70%, and half of the studies used clinical signs and haemodynamic changes to monitor depth of anaesthesia.As it was not possible to blind the anaesthetist to the anaesthetic used, we rated all studies at high risk of performance bias and we therefore downgraded the quality of evidence by one level for risk of bias using the GRADE approach. Other types of bias were generally low, or were rated unclear due to missing information.No studies were designed to measure AAGA as the primary outcome, and were therefore statistically underpowered to answer this review question. Despite the inclusion of 3520 participants, only three awareness events were reported by two studies. In one study the event was due to technical failure. Due to the rarity of the events, we did not consider it appropriate to pool the data, and we therefore downgraded the quality of evidence by a further level for imprecision using GRADE. It is not possible to draw any conclusions from this review. The included studies were mainly small (fewer than 120 participants) and there were limited estimates of effect, with only two studies reporting any events. We cannot therefore determine whether the use of nitrous oxide in general anaesthesia increases, decreases or has no effect on the risk of accidental awareness.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 181 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United Kingdom 1 <1%
Unknown 180 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 33 18%
Student > Bachelor 25 14%
Researcher 16 9%
Other 14 8%
Student > Ph. D. Student 12 7%
Other 28 15%
Unknown 53 29%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 62 34%
Nursing and Health Professions 25 14%
Psychology 7 4%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 6 3%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 6 3%
Other 18 10%
Unknown 57 31%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 15 August 2016.
All research outputs
#16,495,853
of 26,123,112 outputs
Outputs from Cochrane database of systematic reviews
#11,236
of 13,191 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#225,451
of 374,501 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Cochrane database of systematic reviews
#217
of 259 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 26,123,112 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 36th percentile – i.e., 36% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 13,191 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 34.6. This one is in the 14th percentile – i.e., 14% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 374,501 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 39th percentile – i.e., 39% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 259 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 15th percentile – i.e., 15% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.