The Effectiveness of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2023 in the subject Health - Fitness and Health Management, grade: A, , course: Health, language: English, abstract: The condition known as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, is common and frequently results in hospital admissions for emergency care. It is associated with elevated rates of morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. A vital component of hospital care for acute breathing difficulties, resulting mostly from cardiac coronary artery disease, is persistent positive airway pressure, or CPAP. Although it seems sense that early CPAP application in the pre-hospital situation would improve the health of patients, there aren't many outcomes research studies to support this theory.

This systematic review and meta-analysis set out to find out how well CPAP worked for COPD patients in out-of-hospital settings.

I evaluated possible publications as an impartial reviewer after doing a literature assessment of additional literature and bibliographic databases. Publications that contrasted CPAP therapy (along with standard care) with no CPAP for COPD in the prehospital context were considered. Studies examining other non-invasive ventilation techniques were excluded. The Cochrane Collaboration's recommendations were used to evaluate the methodology. The frequency of intubations, death rates, medical conditions, and dyspnea score were among the outcomes. To quantify the pooled effect of CPAP on outcomes, forest plots were built.