Effect of negative pressure wound therapy on wound complications in obese women after caesarean birth: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Obesity is associated with increased surgical site infection (SSI) following caesarean section (CS). OBJECTIVE: To summarise the evidence on the effectiveness of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) for preventing SSI and other wound complications in obese women after CS. SEARCH STRATEGY: MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane CENTRAL databases and Clinical Trials.gov. were systematically searched in March 2021. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of NPWT compared to standard dressings after CS birth. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Pooled effect sizes were calculated using either fixed or random effects models based on heterogeneity. The Cochrane risk of bias and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation tools were used to assess the quality of studies and overall quality of evidence. MAIN RESULTS: 10 RCTs with 5,583 patients were included; studies were published between 2012 and 2021. Nine RCTs with 5,529 patients were pooled for the outcome SSI. Meta-analysis results suggest a significant difference favouring the NPWT group (RR 0.79, 95%CI 0.65-0.95, p< 0.01), indicating an absolute risk reduction of 1.8% among those receiving NPWT compared to usual care. The risk of blistering in the NPWT group was significantly higher (RR 4.13, 95%CI 1.53-11.18, p=0.005). All studies were high risk of bias relative to blinding of personnel/participants. Only 40% of studies reported blinding of outcome assessments and 50% had incomplete outcome data. CONCLUSIONS: The decision to use NPWT should be considered both in terms of its potential benefits and limitations.