Table 4.
GRADE evidence quality for each outcome.
| Outcomes | Number of Studies | Quality Assessment | Quality | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ROB | Inconsistency | Indirectness | Imprecision | Publication Bias | |||
| Sedation success rate | 7 | not serious | not serious | not serious | not serious | NA | ⨁⨁⨁⨁ High |
| Hypoxemia | 6 | not serious | not serious | not serious | not serious | NA | ⨁⨁⨁⨁ High |
| Hypotension | 6 | not serious | serious a | not serious | not serious | NA | ⨁⨁⨁𐤏 Moderate |
| Bradycardia | 5 | not serious | not serious | not serious | not serious | NA | ⨁⨁⨁⨁ High |
| Respiratory depression | 4 | not serious | not serious | not serious | serious b | NA | ⨁⨁⨁𐤏 Moderate |
| Time to LOC | 4 | not serious | serious a | not serious | serious b | NA | ⨁⨁𐤏𐤏 Low |
| Recovery time | 4 | not serious | serious a | not serious | serious b | NA | ⨁⨁𐤏𐤏 Low |
| Injection pain | 4 | not serious | not serious | not serious | serious b | NA | ⨁⨁⨁𐤏 Moderate |
| Dizziness/headache | 4 | not serious | not serious | not serious | serious b | NA | ⨁⨁⨁𐤏 Moderate |
| PONV | 4 | not serious | not serious | not serious | serious b | NA | ⨁⨁⨁𐤏 Moderate |
ROB, risk of bias; PONV, postoperative nausea and vomiting; NA, not applicable. GRADE Working Group grades of evidence. High certainty (⨁⨁⨁⨁): We are very confident that the true effect lies close to the estimated effect. Moderate certainty (⨁⨁⨁𐤏): We are moderately confident in the effect estimate; the true effect is likely to be close to the estimate of the effect, but there is a possibility that it is substantially different. Low certainty (⨁⨁𐤏𐤏): Our confidence in the effect estimate was limited; the true effect may be substantially different from the effect estimate. Explanations. a The 95% prediction interval is significantly wider than the 95% confidence interval. b The number of included studies and patients was small.