Table 3.

Secondary and sensitivity analyses

Analysis	No. of trials included	No. of events		RR	95% CI	P for effect	P for heterogeneity	I 2 (%)
		Levosimendan group	Control group
Overall	6	33/207	39/113	0.40	0.27–0.59	<0.001	0.79	0
Placebo‐controlled trials	3	25/136	27/57	0.40	0.26–0.62	<0.001	0.62	0
Multicentre trials	3	25/136	27/57	0.40	0.26–0.62	<0.001	0.62	0
Lapse ≤2 weeks	3	17/85	21/45	0.39	0.23–0.65	<0.001	0.58	0
Lapse >2 weeks	3	16/122	18/68	0.42	0.23–0.74	0.003	0.55	0
Study period <6 months	3	23/88	24/41	0.45	0.29–0.69	<0.001	0.46	0
Study period ≥6 months	3	10/119	15/72	0.32	0.15–0.68	0.003	0.77	0
Loading dose used	2	5/48	7/39	0.43	0.16–1.19	0.10	0.31	2
Loading dose not used	4	28/159	32/74	0.39	0.26–0.59	<0.001	0.75	0
Excluding studies providing data via personal communication	3	21/137	26/63	0.35	0.22–0.57	<0.001	0.94	0
Analysis using inverse variance	6	33/207	39/113	0.42	0.29–0.61	<0.001	0.80	0
Analysis using Peto	6	33/207	39/113	0.24a	0.14–0.44a	<0.001	0.83	0
Analysis using OR	6	33/207	39/113	0.25b	0.14–0.46b	<0.001	0.85	0
Analysis using RD	6	33/207	39/113	−0.20c	−0.31 to −0.08c	<0.001	0.17	36d
Analysis removing each trial and reanalysing the dataset	P < 0.001, 95% CI <1, and I 2 = 0% for all

CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio; RD, risk difference; RR, risk ratio.

^aPeto OR and 95% CI for Peto OR are shown.

^bOR and 95% CI for OR are shown.

^cRD and 95% CI for RD are shown.

^dData analysed with random‐effects model.