Table 5.
Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) evidence profile for use of left ventricular assist device therapy in patients with end-stage heart failure resulting from ischemic or nonischemic cardiomyopathy
| Outcome; no. of studies (no. of participants) | Quality assessment | Summary of findings | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
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| Study limitations* | Consistency† | Directness | Precision‡ | Publication bias | OR (95% CI) | Best estimate of ICM group rate, % | Best estimate of NICM group rate, % | Quality | |
| 30-d survival | |||||||||
|
| |||||||||
| 2 (350) | Serious limitations | Explainable heterogeneity | Direct | Imprecision | Unlikely | 1.82 (0.67–4.97) | 79.6 | 88.9 | Very low |
|
| |||||||||
| 1-yr survival | |||||||||
|
| |||||||||
| 2 (350) | Serious limitations | Explainable heterogeneity | Direct | Imprecision | Unlikely | 1.00 (0.47–2.12) | 72.5 | 72.7 | Very low |
|
| |||||||||
| Transplantation | |||||||||
|
| |||||||||
| 2 (108) | Serious limitations | Explainable heterogeneity | Direct | Imprecision | Unlikely | 0.47 (0.16–1.39) | 20.0 | 37.0 | Very low |
CI = confidence interval; ICM = ischemic cardiomyopathy; NICM = nonischemic cardiomyopathy; OR = odds ratio.
*
Observational studies only (randomized controlled trials unavailable).
†
One study examined outcomes following cardiac transplantation only; another used a different continuous-flow left ventricular assist device model from that used in the other studies.
‡
Confidence interval includes possible survival advantage from use of left ventricular assist device in both patient groups.