setting, Prevalence, Etiology, and Mortality: A Systematic Review

Background Acute patients presenting with hypotension in the prehospital or emergency department (ED) setting are in need of focused management and knowledge of the epidemiology char-acteristics might help the clinician. The aim of this review was to address prevalence, etiolo-gy and mortality of nontraumatic hypotension (SBP 90 mmHg) with or without the presence of shock in the prehospital and ED setting. Methods We performed a systematic literature search up to August 2013, using Medline, Embase, Cinahl, Dare and The Cochrane Library. The analysis and eligibility criteria were documented according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA-guidelines) and The Cochrane Collaboration. No restrictions on language, publica-tion date, or status were imposed. We used the Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scale (NOS-scale) and the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE-statement) to assess the quality