Oxygen therapy in early warning scores: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Early warning systems (EWS) used across the world typically assign a fixed number of points to patients receiving supplemental oxygen, regardless of amount. This ordinal binary approach may fail to recognise deteriorating patients who have an increasing oxygen requirement with otherwise stable observations. It is unclear whether weighting oxygen beyond binary scoring improves recognition of deterioration.

Aims

We aimed to describe all general adult EWS that grade oxygen beyond binary scoring (part 1). Where reported, we summarised the performance of graded oxygen EWS in comparison to binary scoring (part 2).

Methods

We systematically reviewed the literature, searching Embase, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Central and Web of Science. We included studies of vital

SUBMITTER: Harrison CH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12505061 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature