The effects of handgrip exercise in reducing peripherally inserted central catheter-related venous thrombosis: a Meta-analysis

Objective To evaluate the effects on reduction of peripherally inserted central catheter-related venous thrombosis by hand grip exercise. Methods A detailed search was performed to identify literature about the impact of handgrip exercise on peripherally inserted central catheter-related venous thrombosis, using the Cochrane Library and the databases of PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, CNKI, WanFang and CBM. The meta-analysis or descriptive review were performed after two authors in-dependently searching databases,extracting data and assessing quality of included studies. Results Seven RCTs were included in a total of 789 patients. Meta-analysis showed the effectiveness of handgrip exercise on reduction of peripherally inserted central catheter-related venous thrombosis (RR=0.27, 95% CI 0.17-0.42, P<0.01); and improving vein maximum velocity (WMD=6.53, 95%CI 3.34-9.73, P<0.01) and time-mean flow velocity (WMD=6.05, 95%CI 3.24-8.87, P<0.01). Conclusions Handgrip exercise can improve axillary vein blood flow parameters and reduce peripherally inserted central catheter-related venous thrombosis. Due to a small number of included studies and heterogeneity of indicators, multi-centered, high-quality RCTs with large sample size are needed in the future to assess the effect of handgrip exercise in PICC patients. Key words: Peripherally inserted central catheter; Handgrip exercise; Venous thrombosis; Meta-analysis