Safety Matters: A Meta-analysis of Interhospital Transport Adverse Events in Critically Ill Patients.

Objective: Interhospital transport (IHT) is common among critically ill patients. Our meta-analysis investigated the prevalence and possible factors associated with adverse events (AEs) during IHT.

Methods: Searching PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases until February 12, 2021, we included studies that a priori defined AEs for adult medical patients. We excluded case reports, non-full-text, and non-English language studies. We performed a random effects meta-analysis and moderator analyses.

Results: We identified 554 studies and included 19 studies (14,969 patients) in our final analysis. The mean patients' (standard deviation) age was 60 (13.7). The pooled medical AEs for IHT was 1,059 (11%, 95% confidence interval, 7.5%-16%). The most common AE (n, %) was hypotension (424, 2.8%). Moderator analyses and meta-regressions suggested that conditions (P < .001) such as respiratory failure from coronavirus infection (88%), stroke (19%), and the need for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (40%) were associated with higher AE prevalence. Transport by nurses (31%) and physicians (11%) was associated with a higher AE prevalence, whereas transport type did not influence AE prevalence.

Conclusion: Our study suggests the prevalence of AEs of critically ill patients during IHT is low and likely due to patients' disease severity. Further studies should focus on interventions to mitigate AEs to improve patients' outcomes.