Prevalence and risk factors for intensive care unit acquired weakness: A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Intensive care unit-acquired weakness (ICU-AW) is an acquired neuromuscular lesion and a common occurrence in patients who are critically ill. We will systematically summarize and incorporate the important risk factors and prevalence from previously published multivariate analyses for ICU-AW. METHODS: We will search the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane library to identify the relevant studies about the prevalence and risk factors for ICU-AW. Two reviewers will independently review the studies for eligibility according to the inclusion criteria. Two reviewers will independently assess the quality of studies by using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale for nonrandomized studies. Heterogeneity among studies will be estimated by the I statistic. RESULTS: This systematic review and meta-analysis will provide an evidence of prevalence and risk factors for the ICU-AW. CONCLUSION: We hope that our research will contribute to clinicians and public decision making about the ICU-AW.