Table 1. Characteristics of included studies (n=12).
| Study | Year | Study design | Country/region | No. of patients | Mean age (years) | Follow-up (months) | Definition of non-flail rib (No. of ribs) | Surgical cohort |
Non-surgical cohort | Outcome† | Level and quality of evidence | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | Of which: non-flail | N | Of which: non-flail | |||||||||||
| Khandelwal et al. | 2011 | Cohort study | India | 61 | 47.38 | NR | 2–3 | 32 | 94% (30/32) | 29 | NR | B, H | III, good | |
| Wada et al. | 2015 | Cohort study | Japan | 420 | NR | NR | NR | 84 | 12% (10/84) | 336 | 14% (48/336) | D, E, F | III, good | |
| Wu et al. | 2015 | Single-center RCT | China | 164 | 51 | 2 | ≥3 | 75 | 59% (44/75) | 89 | 61% (54/89) | A, B, C, D, E, F, G | I, good | |
| Qiu et al. | 2016 | Cohort study | China | 124 | 38 | 6 | ≥2 | 65 | 100% | 59 | 100% | B, C, D, F, H | III, good | |
| Tarng et al. | 2016 | Case series | Taiwan, China | 65 | 56 | 24 | >4 | 12 | 25% (3/12) | 53 | NR | A, D, E, F, G | III, low | |
| Uchida et al. | 2017 | Cohort study | Japan | 20 | 60 | NR | >2 | 10 | 40% (4/10) | 10 | NR | A, C, D, E, G | III, low | |
| Liu et al. | 2018 | Cohort study | China | 110 | NR | NR | NR | 59 | 83% (49/59) | 51 | 37% (19/51) | C, F, G | III, good | |
| Jiang et al. | 2019 | Cohort study | China | 167 | 55 | 3 | ≥4 | 75 | NR | 92 | NR | A, C, D, F | III, good | |
| Xiong et al. | 2019 | Cohort study | China | 123 | 47 | NR | NR | 68 | NR | 55 | NR | B, C, F, F | III, good | |
| Zhang et al. | 2019 | Cohort study | China | 78 | 50 | 6 | ≥3 | 39 | 100% | 39 | 100% | B, D, E | III, good | |
| Li et al. | 2020 | Cohort study | China | 98 | 55 | 12 | ≥3 | 66 | 100% | 32 | 100% | B, D, F, H | II, good | |
| Xiao et al. | 2020 | Cohort study | China | 1,010 | 50 | 1 | ≥3 | 430 | 100% | 580 | 100% | A, C, D, F, G | III, good | |
†, the contribution of each study is shown with letters A–H indicative of each outcome type. A, duration of mechanical ventilation; B, pain scores; C, respiratory complications; D, mortality; E, tracheotomy; F, length of hospital stay; G, length of ICU stay; H, functional outcomes. NR, not reported; ICU, intensive care unit.