Continuous positive airway pressure in children with severe pneumonia: a meta-analysis

Excerpt

Pneumonia is the leading cause of death among children aged 1–59 months worldwide [1]. WHO recommends providing low flow oxygen by nasal cannula in pediatric patients with oxygen saturation < 90% [2]. With the provision of oxygen supplementation, some children still require further respiratory support such as mechanical ventilation due to the failure to maintain oxygen saturation and severe respiratory distress [3, 4]. However, mechanical ventilation may result in ventilator-induced lung injury [5]. As a simple and minimally invasive technique, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) has been used in children with severe pneumonia [6, 7], but its effect and safety are uncertain. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis that compared CPAP with standard therapy or low-flow oxygen to figure out the effects and safety of CPAP. …