Impact of geriatric consultation teams on clinical outcome in acute hospitals: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Table 4 Meta-analysis

Outcome	Follow-up (months)	Treatment effect			Heterogeneity		Publication bias		Number of studies
		Effect measure	Pooled estimate (95% CI)	Pvalue for treatment effect	Pvalue for Cochran's Q test	I squared statistic^a	Number of studies trimmed^b	Adjusted pooled estimate^c
Functional status	1	Hedges' g	0.11 (-0.22 to 0.45)	0.50	0.009	79%	0	0.11 (-0.22 to 0.45)	3 [19, 20, 28, 29]
	3		0.07 (-0.11 to 0.26)	0.44	0.006	73%	0	0.07 (-0.11 to 0.26)	5 [19, 20, 28, 29, 31, 32]
	6		0.09 (-0.14 to 0.33)	0.41	0.034	63%	1	0.15 (-0.07 to 0.37)	5 [20, 26, 28–30, 32]
	12		0.01 (-0.15 to 0.16)	0.94	0.15	44%	0	0.01 (-0.15 to 0.16)	4 [19, 23, 28, 29, 32]
Length of stay		Weighted mean difference	-0.35 (-1.24 to 0.55)	0.45	0.75	0%	1	-0.34 (-1.24 to 0.56)	9 [19–21, 24, 25, 27–32]
Mortality	1	Relative risk	0.66 (0.40 to 1.09)	0.10	0.46	0%	NA	NA	2 [19, 20]
	3/4		0.72 (0.44 to 1.17)	0.19	0.12	47%	0	0.72 (0.44 to 1.17)	5[19–22, 28, 29]
	6		0.66 (0.52 to 0.85)	0.001	0.37	0%	2	0.73 (0.52 to 1.02)	6 [20–22, 24, 27–30]
	8		0.51 (0.31 to 0.85)	0.009	0.39	0%	NA	NA	2 [21, 22]
	12		0.98 (0.86 to 1.11)	0.75	0.52	0%	2	1.01 (0.87 to 1.16)	9 [19, 21–23, 26, 28–32]
Readmission	1	Relative risk	0.65 (0.25 to 1.67)	0.37	0.59	0%	NA	NA	2 [19, 28, 29]
	3		0.93 (0.82 to 1.04)	0.18	0.74	0%	2	0.94 (0.84 to 1.05)	4 [19, 22, 26, 28, 29]
	6		0.88 (0.40 to 1.96)	0.76	0.001	86%	0	0.88 (0.40 to 1.96)	3 [24, 27–30]
	12		0.99 (0.83 to 1.19)	0.94	0.34	12%	2	1.09 (0.87 to 1.36)	5 [19, 22, 23, 28, 32]

CI: confidence interval; NA: not applicable. ^aI squared statistic: values less than 25% indicate low, 25% to 50% indicate moderate, and greater than 50% indicate high heterogeneity. ^bThere must be a least three studies published to run publication bias procedure. ^cAdjusted pooled estimate according to Duval and Tweedie's trim-and-fill analysis.

ISSN: 1741-7015