The effectiveness of warming approaches in preventing perioperative hypothermia: Systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract Aim To assess if experimental warming interventions are superior to routine warming interventions in preventing perioperative hypothermia. Background Perioperative hypothermia is a critical issue for the complications of surgery. There are various kinds of perioperative warming interventions, including experimental and routine warming interventions. Methods We performed a systematic literature review and meta‐analysis for the randomized clinical trials of experimental warming interventions vs. routine warming interventions in the perioperative period. Findings A total of 15 studies were included with 983 participants allocated to experimental warming interventions and 939 controls with routine warming interventions, who were receiving a variety of surgeries. The focused outcome was the intraoperative and postoperative body temperature. All included studies were randomized clinical trials. Among the participants receiving operations, the meta‐analysis showed that routine warming intervention groups experienced lower intraoperative and postoperative body temperatures compared to the experimental warming groups. The meta‐analysis results included positive mean differences, significant tests for overall effect and significant heterogeneity in the random‐effects model. Conclusions In spite of significant heterogeneity, experimental warming interventions are likely to demonstrate superior warming effects when compared to routine warming interventions, as shown by the current meta‐analysis results of randomized clinical trials.