Online only table 2.Results of included studies.

Population / Drug/technique / First author / Effect on death / Effect on total length of stay / Effect on MI / Intensive care unit stay
Any surgery / Alpha-2 adrenergic agonists / Stevens RD (A) / RR=0.41 (0.18 to 0.93) / WMD=-0.89 (-1.58 to -0.20) days / NA / NA
Wijeysundera DN (A) / RR=0.79 (0.48 to 1.30) / WMD=-1.19 (-2.18 to 0.21) days / NA / NA
Antifungal prophylaxis / Cruciani M / RR=2.12 (0.59 to 7.65) / NA / NA / NA
Aprotinin / Munoz JJ (A) / RR=0.99 (0.27 to 3.58) / WMD=3.5 (5.3 to 1.76) days / NA / NA
Atrial natriuretic peptide / Nigwekar SU (B) / RR= 1.56 (0.83 to 2.95) / NA / NA / NA
Beta-blockers / McGory ML / OR=1.12 (0.65 to 1.93) / NA / NA / NA
Wiesbauer F / OR=1.42 (0.37 to 5.45) / NA / NA / NA
Cell salvage and alternative methods of minimising perioperative allogeneic blood transfusion / Davies L / OR=1.72 (0.3 to 6.95) / NA / NA / NA
Desmopressin / Lapaucis A (B) / OR=1.17 (0.70 to 1.94) / NA / NA / NA
Dexmedetomidine / Biccard BM (A) / RR=0.97 (0.76 to 1.24) / NA / NA / NA
Dopexamine / Pearse RM / OR=0.25 (0.09 to 0.73) / NA / OR=0.19 (0.08 to 0.48) / NA
Epidural analgesia / Beattie WS (A) / RR=0.64 (0.42 to 0.99) / NA / RR=0.76 (0.63 to 0.91) / NA
Epidural or spinal anesthesia / Rodger A / RR=0.60 (0.45 to 0.81) / NA / NA / NA
Epsilon amino-caproic acid / Munoz JJ (C) / P=0.468 / NA / P=0.316 / NA
Fenoldopam / Landoni G (A) / OR=0.91 (0.53 to 1.54) / NA / NA / WMD=2.30 (3.40 to -1.20) days
Fluconazole / Ho KM (B) / RR=0.52 (0.20 to 1.35) / NA / RR=0.14 (0.04.to 0.47) / NA
Immunonutrition / Heyland DK (B) / OR=0.55 (0.17 to 1.83) / NA / OR=0.89 (0.53 to 1.5) / WMD=-0.35 (-0.77 to 0.07) days
Insulin / Gandhi GY / RR=1.22 (0.55 to 2.70) / WMD=-1.28 (-2.65 to 0.08) days / RR=0.76 (0.40 to 1.43) / NA
Intervention for protecting renal function / Zacharias M / NA / NA / OR=1.85 (0.74 to 4.62) / NA
Low molecular weight heparin / Mismetti P / OR=0.27 (0.01 to 7.13) / NA / OR=0.26 (0.04 to 1.60) / NA
N-acetylcysteine / Ho KM (A) / OR=0.78 (0.31 to 1.99) / HR for early discharge=0.85 (0.73 to 0.91) / NA / NA
Recombinant activated factor VII / Ranucci M / OR=0.74 (0.40 to 1.37) / NA / OR=1.56 (0.30 to 1.03) / NA
Specialized nutrition support / Waitzbeg DL / OR=0.70 (0.54 to 0.90) / NA / OR=0.67 (0.45 to 1.00) / NA
Statin / Hindler K / P=0.280 / NA / P=0.470 / NA
Kapoor AS / OR=0.64 (0.45 to 0.91) / WMD=-1.07 (-2.16 to 0.01) days / NA / WMD=-0.61 (-0.99 to -0..23) days
Tight glucose control / Wiener RS / RR=0.82 (0.62 to 1.08) / WMD=-0.4 (-10.4 to 9.5) days / NA / NA
Tranexamic acid / Lapaucis A (C) / RR=0.99 (0.42 to 2.34) / WMD=-3.39 (-4.55 to -2.23) days / NA / NA
Abdominal surgery / Enteral nutrition / Lewis SJ / RR=0.69 (0.51 to 0.94) / NA / NA / NA
Mazaki T / OR=1.19 (0.66 to 2.12) / NA / NA / NA
Erythropoeitin / Devon KM / RR=0.54 (0.27 to 1.10) / NA / NA / NA
Glutamine / Novak F / OR=1.05 (0.58 to 1.92) / NA / NA / WMD=0.46 (-0.43 to 1.36) days
Low molecular weight heparin / Bottaro FJ / OR=0.99 (0.37 to 2.68) / NA / NA / NA
Rasmussen MS / RR=0.74 (0.23 to 2.35) / WMD=-0.71 (-1.14 to -0.28) days / NA / NA
Mechanical bowel preparation / Bucher P / OR=0.56 (0.43 to 0.71) / NA / OR=1.07 (0.88 to 1.31) / NA
Wille-Jorgensen P / OR=0.26 (0.07 to 0.99) / NA / NA / NA
Somatostatin / Connor S / RR=0.88 (0.63 to 1.22) / NA / NA / NA
Total parenteral nutrition / Heyland DK (A) / NA / NA / OR=0.50 (0.13 to 1.87) / NA
Cardiac surgery / Aprotinin / Brown JR (A) / RR=0.89 (0.65 to 1.21) / NA / RR=1.10 (0.83 to 1.45) / NA
Desmopressin / Levi M (B) / NA / NA / OR=0.48 (0.20 to 1.13) / NA
Epsilon amino-caproic acid / Brown JR (C) / RR=1.37 (0.72 to 2.59) / NA / RR=0.94 (0.58 to 1.54) / NA
Henry D (B) / RR=1.65 (0.50 to 5.43) / NA / RR=0.89 (0.37 to 2.18) / NA
Lysine analogues / Levi M (C) / OR=1.02 (0.29 to 3.56) / NA / OR=2.39 (1.02 to 5.60) / NA
Tranexamic acid / Brown JR (D) / RR=0.67 (0.33 to 1.37) / NA / RR=0.94 (0.51 to 1.74) / NA
Henry D (C) / RR=0.55 (0.24-1.25) / NA / RR=0.86 (0.43 to 1.75) / NA
Cardiovascular surgery / Acadesine / Mangano DT / OR=0.52 (0.27 to 0.98) / NA / OR=0.69 (0.51 to 0.95) / NA
Amiodarone / Aasbo JD / RR=0.84 (0.43 to 1.65) / WMD=0.63 (1.03 to 0.23) days / RR=0.71 (0.31 to 1.62) / NA
Antiarrhythmic therapy / Zimmer J / OR=0.92 (0.47 to 1.79) / WMD=-1.0 (-1.4 to -0.6) days / NA / NA
Antiplatelet agents / Brown J / OR=0.82 (0.54 to 1.23) / NA / OR=0.71 (0.47 to 1.08) / NA
Engelter S / OR=0.77 (0.48 to 1.24) / NA / OR=1.42 (0.40 to 5.07) / NA
Tangelder MJ / RR=0.92 (0.64 to 1.32) / NA / NA / NA
Aprotinin / Brown JR (B) / RR=1.82 (0.55 to 5.98) / NA / RR=1.14 (0.50 to 2.60) / NA
Henry D (A) / RR=0.93 (0.69 to 1.25) / NA / RR=0.94 (0.73 to 1.21) / NA
Lapaucis A (A) / NA / NA / OR=1.12 (0.82 to 1.53) / NA
Levi M (A) / OR=0.55 (0.34 to 0.90) / NA / OR=1.13 (0.76 to 1.67) / NA
Munoz JJ (B) / P=0.710 / NA / P=0.949 / NA
Sedrakyan A (A) / RR=0.96 (0.65 to 1.40) / NA / RR=0.85 (0.63 to 1.14) / NA
Sun JC / OR=0.59 (0.34 to 1.02) / NA / OR=1.04 (0.35 to 3.07) / NA
Calcium channel blockers / Wijeysundera DN (C) / OR=1.01 (p=1.0) / NA / OR=0.58 (0.37 to 0.91) / NA
Chlorhexidine / Chlebicki MP / RR=1.07 (0.76 to 1.51) / NA / NA / NA
Desflurane and sevoflurane / Landoni G (B) / OR=0.31 (0.12 to 0.80) / NA / OR=0.51 (0.32 to 0.84) / NA
Desmopressin / Crescenzi G / NA / NA / OR=1.27 (0.73 to 2.20) / NA
Early extubation / Hawkes CA / RR=1.2 (0.63 to 2.27) / WMD=1.08 (-1.35 to -0.82) days / RR=0.96 (0.71 to 1.30) / WMD=7.02 (-7.42 to -6.61) hours
Epidural analgesia / Nishimory M / OR=0.86 (0.48 to 1.55) / NA / RR=0.52 (0.29 to 0.93) / NA
Fenoldopam / Landoni G (C) / OR=0.46 (0.29 to 0.75) / NA / NA / WMD=-0.93 (1.27 to 0.58) days
Heparin-bonded circuits / Mangoush O / OR=0.8 (0.5 to 1.3) / NA / OR=0.6 (0.4 to 1.0) / NA
Hypothermia / Rees K / OR=1.46 (0.9 to 2.37) / NA / OR=1.05 (0.81 to 1.37) / NA
Local anaesthesia / Rerkasem K / OR=0.23 (0.05 to 1.01) / NA / OR=0.98 (0.28 to 3.42) / NA
Magnesium / Miller S / OR=1.22 (0.39 to 3.77) / WMD=20.07 (20.66 to 0.53) hours / NA / NA
Shiga T / RR=0.97 (0.43 to 2.20) / WMD=0.28 (0.70 to 1.27) days / RR=1.03 (0.52 to 2.05) / NA
N-acetylcysteine / Baker WL / OR=0.71 (0.41 to 1.31) / WMD=0.07 (-0.28 to 0.42) days / OR=0.73 (0.34 to 1.57) / NA
Naughton F / RR=0.93 (0.41-2.07) / NA / NA / NA
Nigwekar SU (A) / OR=0.95 (0.53 to 1.71) / NA / NA / WMD=0.34 (-0.56 to 1.25) days
Natriuretic Peptide / Nigwekar SU (C) / OR=0.59 (0.31 to 1.12) / NA / NA / NA
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents / Bainbridge D (A) / OR=0.19 (0.01 to 4.22) / WMD=-0.07 (-0.55 to 0.40) days / OR=0.71 (0.09 to 5.71) / NA
Patient-controlled analgesia / Bainbridge D (B) / OR=1.45 (0.17 to 12.08) / WMD=-0.27 (-0.81 to 0.27) days / NA / NA
Pexelizumab / Mahaffey KW / RR=0.96 (0.66 to 1.41) / NA / NA / NA
Testa L / OR=0.74 (0.58 to 0.94) / NA / OR=0.98 (0.83-1.15) / NA
Pulmonary artery catheterization / Barone JE / OR=1.12 (p=0.6) / NA / NA / NA
Pulsatile cardiopulmonary bypass / Alghamdi AA / RR=0.13 (0.02 to 0.99) / NA / RR=0.11 (0.01 to 0.87) / NA
Recombinant activated factor VII / Zangrillo A / OR=0.96 (0.50 to 1.86) / NA / OR=0.70 (0.21 to 2.29) / NA
Statin / Liakopoulus OJ / OR=0.57 (0.49 to 0.67) / NA / OR=1.11 (0.93 to 1.33) / NA
Vitamin K antagonists / Dorffler-Melly J / OR=0.20 (0.04 to 1.04) / NA / NA / NA
Volatile anesthetics / Symons JA / OR=0.68 (0.32 to 1.47) / WMD=-1.05 (-1.68 to -0.43) days / OR=0.98 (0.61 to 1.58) / WMD=-3.87 (-8.76 to 1.03) hours
Yu CH / OR=0.65 (0.36 to 1.18) / NA / OR=0.64 (0.36 to 1.14) / NA
Neurosurgery / Antibiotics / Ratilal B / OR=1.47 (0.83 to 2.62) / NA / NA / NA
Non-cardiovascular surgery / Beta-blockers / Bangalore S / OR=1.20 (0.95 to 1.51) / NA / OR=0.65 (0.54 to 0.79) / NA
Beattie WS (B) / OR=0.75 (0.27-2.07) / NA / OR=0.76 (0.41-1.41) / NA
Biccard BM (B) / OR=0.35 (0.08 to 1.52) / NA / OR=0.90 (0.52 to 1.56) / NA
Deveraux PJ / RR=0.56 (0.14 to 2.31) / NA / NA / NA
Schouten O / OR=0.33 (0.17 to 0.67) / NA / OR=0.44 (0.20 to 0.97) / NA
Stevens RD (B) / OR=0.50 (0.28 to 0.91) / NA / OR=0.85 (0.62 to 1.14) / NA
Calcium channel blockers / Wijeysundera DN (B) / RR=0.40 (0.14 to 1.16) / NA / RR=0.25 (0.05 to 1.18) / NA
Orthopedic surgery / Regional anesthesia / Parker MJ / RR=0.69 (0.50 to 0.95) / WMD=-0.2 (-5.2 to 4.8) days / RR=0.55 (0.22 to 1.37) / NA
Urwin SC / OR=0.66 (0.47 to 0.96) / WMD=-0.21 (-5.21 to 4.78) days / OR=0.51 (0.16 to 1.63) / NA
Surgery for head and neck cancer / Immunonutrition / Stableforth WD / OR=1.18 (p>0.05) / WMD=3.5 (0.7 to 6.3) days / NA / NA
Thoracic surgery / Beta-blockers / Sedrakyan A (B) / RR=1.13 (0.42 to 3.06) / NA / RR=0.15 (0.01 to 2.70) / NA
Calcium channel blockers / Sedrakyan A (C) / RR=2.09 (0.18 to 23.77) / NA / RR=0.71 (0.14 to 3.46) / NA

NA=not available; OR=odds ratio; RR=relative risk; WMD=weighted mean difference