title: Efficacy of mild hypothermia for the treatment of patients with cardiac arrest.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Therapeutic hypothermia has been recommended for the treatment of cardiac arrest patients who remain comatose after the return of spontaneous circulation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of mild hypothermia on patients with cardiac arrest by conducting a meta-analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The relevant trials were searched in Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CNKI and Wan Fang Data from the date of their establishment to October 2014. Thereafter, the studies retrieved were screened based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were extracted, and the quality of the included studies was evaluated. A meta-analysis was conducted using the Cochrane Collaboration Review Manager 5.2 software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six randomized controlled trials involving 531 cases were included, among which 273 cases were assigned to the treatment group and the other 258 cases to the control group. The meta-analysis indicated that mild hypothermia therapy after cardiac arrest produced significant differences in survival rate (relative risk [RR] =1.23, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-1.48, P = 0.03) and neurological function (RR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.08-1.65, P = 0.007) after 6 months compared with normothermia therapy. However, no significant differences were observed in the survival to the hospital discharge (RR = 1.35, 95% CI: 0.87-2.10, P = 0.18), favorable neurological outcome at hospital discharge (RR = 1.53, 95% CI: 0.95-2.45, P = 0.08) and adverse events.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The meta-analysis demonstrated that mild hypothermia can improve the survival rate and neurological function of patients with cardiac arrest after 6 months. On the other hand, regarding the survival to hospital discharge, favorable neurological outcome at hospital discharge, and adverse events, our meta-analysis produced nonsignificant results.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Kang-Li
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.forename: Yu-Jie
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Jinling Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210000, China.
authors.forename: Man-Lin
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Jian-Guo
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: De-Xin
authors.initials: DX
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007036:Hypothermia, Induced / Q000379:methods*