Effects of albumin and crystalloid priming strategies on red blood cell transfusions in on-pump cardiac surgery: a network meta-analysis

Table 2 Certainty of evidence assessment

Crystalloid vs. Albumin
Outcome	Direct evidence		Indirect evidence (Back-calculated)			Network meta-analysis
Outcome	Mean Difference (95% confidence interval)	Quality		Mean Difference (95% credible interval)	Quality	Mean Difference (95% credible interval)	Quality
Intraoperative RBC transfusions	-0.20 [-0.39, -0.01]	Moderate†		0.11 [-0.90, 1.10]	Low^*¶	-0.14 [-0.70, 0.46]	Low
Postoperative RBC transfusions	-0.16 [-0.45, 0.14]	Moderate†		0.25 [-1.10, 1.60]	Low^*¶	-0.16 [-0.43, 0.14]	Low
Postoperative blood loss	12.59 [-314.25, 339.43]	Low^†‡¶		132 [-290, 560]	Low^**‡¶	71 [-151, 280]	Low
Total perioperative RBC transfusions	-0.68 [-1.26, -0.09]	High		-	-	-	-

^¶Limitations (risk of bias). ^†Inconsistency. ^‡Imprecision. ^*Contributing direct evidence of moderate quality. ^**Contributing direct evidence of low or very low quality

ISSN: 1471-2253