The effect of ultrasound-guided erector spinae plane block on postsurgical pain: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Table 3 Summary of the quality of evidence (GRADE) for comparing erector spinae plane block to a control group for the primary and secondary outcomes of the included studies

# studies in design (n)	Risk of bias	Inconsistency	Indirectness	Imprecision	Publication bias	Overall quality of evidence^e	Importance
Postoperative opioid consumption at 24 h
12 (573)	None serious^a	Serious^b	None serious	None serious	Undetected	⨁⨁⨁◯ Moderate	Important
Postoperative pain at rest at 6 h
9 (486)	None serious^a	Serious^b	None serious	None serious	Detected^c	⨁⨁⨁◯ Moderate	Important
Postoperative pain at rest at 12 h
10 (546)	None serious^a	Serious^b	None serious	None serious	Undetected	⨁⨁⨁◯ Moderate	Important
Postoperative pain at rest at 24 h
10 (500)	None serious^a	Serious^d	None serious	None serious	Undetected	⨁⨁⨁◯ Moderate	Important
Postoperative nausea and vomiting
11 (596)	None serious^a	None serious	None serious	None serious	Undetected	⨁⨁⨁⨁ High	Important

^aMajority of studies had allocation concealment and used blinded outcome assessments; lost to follow up was very low; the overall risk of bias was felt to be none serious
^bThere is high heterogeneity among the included studies; sensitivity analysis did not significantly reduce heterogeneity
^cFunnel plot did reveal asymmetry; Egger’s test, P = < 0.05
^dThere is high heterogeneity among the included studies; subgroup analysis of type of block placement did significantly reduce heterogeneity
^eGrade Workshop Group grades of evidence: high quality: further research very unlikely to change confidence in estimate of effect; moderate quality; further research likely to have important impact on confidence in estimate of effect and may change estimate; low quality; further research very likely to have important impact on confidence in estimate of effect and likely to change estimate; very low quality: very uncertain about estimate

ISSN: 1471-2253