Open-access databases in anesthesiology and intensive care: a systematic review and guidelines

Open-access databases (DBs) of intensive care unit (ICU) patients are still not widespread in the Russian Federation despite clear global interest in these tools. Objective. To conduct a systematic review of open-access intensive care patient DBs including identification of available databases, analysis of their characteristics, advantages and disadvantages, as well as to establish appropriate guidelines. Material and methods. This study was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines and Cochrane Handbook recommendations. A systematic literature searching was performed in the PubMed and Google Scholar databases. Additional searching included the LitMaps web-tool. We enrolled studies of patients older 18 years with available information on vital parameters in ICU. Data extraction was performed using DB Browser for SQLite and DBeaver. Results. Six open-access DBs were included in the study: MIMIC-IV, eICU-CRD, HiRID, SICdb, AmsterdamUMCdb, and RICD. These databases vary in the number of patients (from 5.115 to 139.367), duration of monitoring, and data collection frequency. Moreover, differences were observed in patient categories, severity of status and data accessibility. The guidelines for open-access ICU DBs were developed considering their unique features, advantages and limitations. Conclusion. Open-access ICU DBs are valuable for addressing various research objectives. The proposed recommendations are intended to increase researchers’ awareness of these resources and encourage their broader application in scientific studies.