Table 3 Frequency of critical error with devices (quantitative and qualitative estimates)

From: Device errors in asthma and COPD: systematic literature review and meta-analysis

Device

Cross-sectional studies

RCTs

 

Number of studies

Pooled estimate [95% CI] (I-squared)*

Range of error frequency

Number of studies

Pooled estimate [95% CI] (I-squared)*

Range of error frequency

MDI

10

45.6% [26.0–66.6] (98.4%)

12.0–93.0%

0

N/A‡

N/A‡

MDI with spacer

3

8.9% [0.9–50.5] (93.7%)

2.6–47.0%

0

N/A‡

N/A‡

BA-MDI (Autohaler®)

1

N/A‡

11.0%

0

N/A‡

N/A‡

Turbuhaler®

10

40.1% [28.6–52.9] (95.7%)

18.0–100%

1

N/A‡

26.0%

Diskus®

9

20.8% [13.7–30.2] (93.6%)

6.8–43.0%

3

18.0% [8.2–35.1] (84.2%)

8.0–31.9%

Aerolizer®

4

14.2% [11.0–18.1] (44.3%)

9.1–16.8%

0

N/A‡

N/A‡

Handihaler®

3

42.4% [28.8–57.1] (58.4%)

35.0–53.1%

0

N/A‡

N/A‡

  1. N/A Not applicable
  2. * I-squared statistic indicates the percentage of variance that is attributable to between-study heterogeneity. The higher the percentage, the greater the heterogeneity. ‡Not applicable as number of studies was ≤1
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