Table 6.

Main findings from Cai et al.^[74] study in relation to pharmacological protection of kidneys to prevent acute kidney injury (AKI) after cardiac surgery.

Pharmacological agents	Author/Year	Number of included trials	Total number of patients	Outcome	Pooled effect size (OR, 95% CI)	P-value	I2 (heterogeneity)
Dexmedetomidine	Liu et al., 2018	10	1575	AKI	0.65 (0.45, 0.92)	0.02	0%
Statin	Putzu et al., 2016	23	5102	AKI	1.26 (1.05, 1.52)	0.01	Not reported
Statin	Lewicki et al., 2015	7	662	AKI	RR 0.76 (0.46, 1.28)	Not reported	0%
Fenoldopam	Gillies et al., 2015	6	507	AKI	0.46 (0.27, 0.79)	0.004	0%
Fenoldopam	Zangrillo et al., 2012	6	440	AKI	0.41 (0.23, 0.74)	0.003	0%
Levosimendan	Ng et al., 2019	12	1867	AKI	0.61 (0.40, 0.92)	0.02	33%
Levosimendan	Tena et al., 2018	14	2243	RRT	RR 0.66 (0.47, 0.92)	0.015	0%
Erythropoietin	Penny-Dimri et al., 2016	6	473	AKI	0.69 (0.35, 1.36)	0.28	64%
N-acetylcysteine	Mei et al., 2017	10	1391	AKI	0.841 (0.691, 1.023)	0.116	39.4%
N-acetylcysteine	Ho et al., 2009	10	1193	AKI	1.04 (0.45, 2.37)	Not reported	3.3%
N-acetylcysteine	Nigwekar et al., 2009	12	1324	AKI	0.89 (0.68, 1.15)	0.36	0%
Sodium bicarbonate	Tie et al., 2014	5	1079	AKI	0.99 (0.78, 1.24)	0.911	56.1%
Sodium bicarbonate	Bailey et al., 2015	3	877	*	1.11 (0.77, 1.60)	0.45	Not reported
Sodium bicarbonate	Kim et al., 2015	5	1092	AKI	0.95 (0.74, 1.22)	0.71	59%
Sodium bicarbonate	Zoungas et al., 2009	23	3563	CIN	0.62 (0.45, 0.86)	Not reported	49.1%
Volatile anaesthetics	Cai et al., 2014	10	1600	AKI	0.65 (0.43, 0.97)	0.04	0%

^*Postoperative increase in serum creatinine concentration of greater than 25% or 0.5 mg/dL within the first five postoperative days.

CI=confidence interval; CIN=contrast-induced nephropathy; OR=odds ratio; RR=risk ratio; RRT=renal replacement therapy