Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2023 May 5;102(18):e33579.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000033579.

Self-warming blankets versus active warming by forced-air devices for preventing hypothermia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Nada Mostafa Al-Dardery  1   2 , Omar A Abdelwahab  1   3 , Mohamed El-Samahy  1   4 , Ali Mohamed Seif  3 , Adel Mouffokes  1   5 , Abdulrhman Khaity  1   6
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Self-warming blankets versus active warming by forced-air devices for preventing hypothermia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Nada Mostafa Al-Dardery et al. Medicine (Baltimore). .

Abstract

Background: Unintended perioperative hypothermia is a significant complication for patients undergoing anesthesia. Different measures are routinely undertaken to prevent hypothermia and its consequences. The evidence comparing the impact of self-warming blankets and forced-air warming is scarce. Therefore, this meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy of self-warming blankets compared to forced-air devices regarding the incidence of perioperative hypothermia.

Methods: We searched the Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PubMed, and Scopus for relevant studies from inception until December 2022. We included comparative studies with patients allocated to undergo warming using a self-warming blanket or forced air warming. All concerned outcomes were pooled as odds ratios or mean differences (MDs) in the meta-analysis models using Review Manager (RevMan version 5.4).

Results: Our results from 8 studies (597 patients) favored self-warming blankets over forced-air devices in terms of core temperature at 120 and 180 minutes after induction of general anesthesia (MD = 0.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.14-0.51], P = .0006), (MD = 0.62, 95% CI [0.09-1.14], P = .02), respectively. However, the overall effect did not favor either of the 2 groups for the incidence of hypothermia (odds ratio = 0.69, 95% CI [0.18-2.62]).

Conclusion: Ultimately, self-warming blankets have a more significant effect than forced-air warming systems in terms of maintaining normothermia of core temperature after induction anesthesia. However, the present evidence is not enough to verify the efficacy of the 2 warming techniques in the incidence of hypothermia. Further studies with large sample sizes are recommended.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flow diagram of studies’ screening and selection. PRISMA = Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
The risk of bias summary and risk of bias graph.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Forest plots of odds ratios in the incidence of hypothermia.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Forest plots of mean difference in postoperative temperature core temperature.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Forest plots of mean difference in core temperature at (A) 30 minutes, (B) after sensitivity analysis at 30 minutes, (C) at 60 minutes, (D) after sensitivity analysis at 60 minutes, (E) at 90 minutes, (F) after sensitivity analysis at 90 minutes, after anesthesia.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Forest plots of mean difference in core temperature (A) at 120 minutes and (B) at 180 minutes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Leslie K, Sessler DI. Perioperative hypothermia in the high-risk surgical patient. Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol. 2003;17:485–98. - PubMed
    1. Billeter AT, Hohmann SF, Druen D, et al. . Unintentional perioperative hypothermia is associated with severe complications and high mortality in elective operations. Surgery. 2014;156:1245–52. - PubMed
    1. Sessler DI. Mild perioperative hypothermia. N Engl J Med. 1997;336:1730–7. - PubMed
    1. Sessler DI. Temperature monitoring and perioperative thermoregulation. Anesthesiology. 2008;109:318–38. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yi J, Xiang Z, Deng X, et al. . Incidence of inadvertent intraoperative hypothermia and its risk factors in patients undergoing general anesthesia in Beijing: a prospective regional survey. PLoS One. 2015;10:e0136136. - PMC - PubMed