Effectiveness of rapid response teams in reducing intrahospital cardiac arrests and deaths: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of rapid response teams using early identification of clinical deterioration in reducing the occurrence of in-hospital mortality and cardiorespiratory arrest. DATA SOURCES: The MEDLINE, LILACS, Cochrane Library, Center for Reviews and Dissemination databases were searched. STUDY SELECTION: We included studies that evaluated the effectiveness of rapid response teams in adult hospital units, published in English, Portuguese, or Spanish, from 2000 to 2016; systematic reviews, clinical trials, cohort studies, and prepost ecological studies were eligible for inclusion. The quality of studies was independently assessed by two researchers using the Newcastle-Ottawa, modified Jadad, and Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews scales. DATA EXTRACTIONS: The results were synthesized and tabulated. When risk measures were reported by the authors of the included studies, we estimated effectiveness as 1-RR or 1-OR. In pre-post studies, we estimated effectiveness as the percent decrease in rates following the intervention. RESULTS: Overall, 278 studies were identified, 256 of which were excluded after abstract evaluation, and two of which were excluded after full text evaluation. In the meta-analysis of the studies reporting mortality data, we calculated a risk ratio of 0.85 (95%CI 0.76 - 0.94); and for studies reporting cardiac arrest data the estimated risk ratio was 0.65 (95%CI 0.49 - 0.87). Evidence was assessed as low quality due to the high heterogeneity and risk of bias in primary studies. CONCLUSION: We conclude that rapid response teams may reduce in-hospital mortality and cardiac arrests, although the quality of evidence for both outcomes is low.