SynthesisFrontiers in pharmacology2025
The effect of esketamine on postoperative delirium in patients undergoing general anesthesia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Frontiers in pharmacology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Guideline for the Comprehensive Perioperative Management of Older Patients With Lung Cancer (2025).Journal of evidence-based medicine · 2026Guideline
- Effect of perioperative esketamine administration on the incidence of postoperative delirium: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC anesthesiology · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Postoperative delirium (POD), a prevalent neurological complication, is strongly associated with adverse clinical outcomes. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy of esketamine in preventing POD among patients receiving general anesthesia. Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, clinical trial registries and major conference proceedings for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining esketamine's impact on POD in general anesthesia patients, from inception through 30 June 2025. Statistical analyses were performed using RevMan 5.4 and Stata 12.0. Dichotomous outcomes were expressed as risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI), while continuous variables were analyzed via mean differences (MD). Study bias was assessed with the Cochrane ROB 2.0 tool. Results: Thirteen RCTs involving 1,873 elective surgery patients under general anesthesia were included. Esketamine administration was associated with a lower POD incidence (RR: 0.66; 95% CI: 0.49-0.91; P < 0.05). Subgroup analyses revealed potentially significant reductions in adult populations and cardiac surgery cohorts. The postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) rate decreased in the esketamine group. Additionally, esketamine was associated with reduced pain scores at 24 h postoperatively. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that esketamine may be associated with a lower POD risk following general anesthesia. Further large-scale trials are warranted to validate these preliminary findings. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/recorddashboard.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.