Enhanced nighttime and continuous critical care physician coverage in adult intensive care units: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Pooled result · Hospital mortalityResult — go to the resultRelative risk 0.92 95% CI 0.67–1.28Authors' conclusion
Strict on-site coverage did not significantly reduce hospital mortality (RR 0.92, 95% CI 0.67-1.28), and available studies cannot reliably isolate added benefit beyond existing ICU support.
Study context
- Population
- Adult ICUs
- Participants
- 13,276 participants · 4 studies
- Comparison
- Strict physical/on-site nighttime or continuous attending-level critical-care physician coverage vs usual coverage
- Outcome
- Hospital mortality
Methodological detailsrandom-effects, RoB 2/ROBINS-I, GRADE, 22 reports retained; search through August 9, 2026
- Random-effects
- RoB 2/ROBINS-I
- GRADE
- 22 reports retained; search through August 9, 2026
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
Relative risk
0.92
95% CI 0.67–1.28
Strict on-site coverage
RR 0.92 (95% CI 0.67–1.28)
Further pooled results
Hospital mortality, sensitivity analysis adding 1 study of continuous non-resident specialist availability
- Similar result (I2 = 68%)
- RR 0.87, 95% CI 0.66-1.14
- Sensitivity analysis
ICU mortality
- No significant difference
- RR 0.93, 95% CI 0.70-1.23
ICU LOS
- No significant difference
- MD 0.42 days, 95% CI −0.98 to 1.83
Hospital LOS
- No significant difference
- MD −0.31 days, 95% CI −1.73 to 1.11
Certainty of evidence (GRADE)
- Very low for all pooled outcomes
Original publication
Enhanced nighttime and continuous critical care physician coverage in adult intensive care units: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Crit Care. Published 27 September 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →