About the Authors

Karen E. A. Burns

burnsk@smh.ca

Affiliations Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, Keenan Research Centre and Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada

Neill K. J. Adhikari

Affiliations Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, Department of Critical Care Medicine and Sunnybrook Research Institute, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada

Arthur S. Slutsky

Affiliations Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, Keenan Research Centre and Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada

Gordon H. Guyatt

Affiliation Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

Jesus Villar

Affiliations Keenan Research Centre and Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada, CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain, Research Unit, Hospital Universitario Dr. Negrin, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

Haibo Zhang

Affiliations Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, Keenan Research Centre and Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada

Qi Zhou

Affiliation Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

Deborah J. Cook

Affiliation Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

Thomas E. Stewart

Affiliation Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Maureen O. Meade

Affiliation Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

Competing Interests

Drs. Burns, Adhikari, Zhang and Zhou have no known or perceived conflicts of interest to declare, including specific financial interests or relationships or affiliations relevant to the subject of the manuscript. Drs. Slutsky, Meade, Guyatt, Stewart and Cook coauthored one of the trials included in this review. Dr. Villar was the first author of a separate randomized trial included in this review. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: KEAB NKA ASS GG JV HZ DC TS MOM. Performed the experiments: KEAB NKA MOM. Analyzed the data: KEAB ASS GG JV HZ QZ DC TS MOM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: QZ. Wrote the paper: KEAB NKA ASS GG JV HZ QZ DC TS MOM. Designed the review protocol, conducted the literature searches, screened abstracts and related articles, selected studies meeting inclusion criteria, extracted data, assessed study quality, prepared initial and subsequent drafts of the manuscript and integrated comments from other authors into revised and final versions of the manuscript: KEAB. Conducted the literature searches, screened abstracts, participated in protocol design, selected studies meeting inclusion criteria, extracted data, assessed study quality, revised and approved the final version the manuscript: NKJA. Provided guidance in drafting the manuscript, aided in interpreting the pooled results, and revised and approved the final version of the manuscript: ASS DC TS. Provided methodologic guidance in designing the protocol, drafting the manuscript, facilitated correspondence with authors to clarify study methodology, aided in interpreting the pooled results, and revised and approved the final version of the manuscript: GG. Aided in interpreting the pooled results, assisted in preparing the manuscript, and revised and approved the final version of the manuscript: JV. Facilitated translation of foreign language publications and correspondence with authors to clarify study methodology, and revised and approved the final version of the manuscript: HZ. Provided statistical guidance for the meta-analysis, conducted the analyses aided in interpreting the pooled results, and revised and approved the final version of the manuscript: QZ. Designed the review protocol, screened abstracts and related articles, adjudicated disagreements regarding study selection and methodologic quality, provided methodologic guidance in drafting the manuscript, prepared the evidence table, integrated comments from other authors into revised versions of the manuscript, and revised and approved the final version of the manuscript: MOM.