Unfractionated heparin improves the clinical efficacy in adult sepsis patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background The anticoagulant treatment and clinical efficacy of heparin in sepsis remains controversial. We conducted a meta-analysis to estimate the clinical efficacy of unfractionated heparin (UFH) in adult septic patients. Method A systematic review of Medline, Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, WEIPU database, CNKI database, WANFANG database was performed from inception to January 2021. We included Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and the main outcome was 28 d mortality. Data analysis was performed with Review Manager (RevMan) version 5.3 software. The meta-analysis included 2617 patients from 15 RCTs. Results Comparing to control group, UFH could reduce 28 d mortality (RR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.72 to 0.94) especially for patient with Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) > 15, (RR: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.72 to 0.96). In UFH group, the platelet (PLT) (MD: 9.18; 95% CI: 0.68 to 17.68) was higher, the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) was shorter (MD: -8.01; 95% CI: − 13.84 to − 2.18) and the prothrombin time (PT) results (P > 0.05) failed to reach statistical significance. UFH decreased multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) incidence (RR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.45 to 0.84), length of stay (LOS) in ICU (MD: -4.94; 95% CI: − 6.89 to − 2.99) and ventilation time (MD: -3.01; 95% CI: − 4.0 to − 2.02). And UFH had no adverse impact on bleeding (RR: 1.10; 95% CI: 0.54 to 2.23). Conclusion This meta-analysis suggests that UFH may reduce 28 d mortality and improve the clinical efficacy in sepsis patients without bleeding adverse effect.