Annals of emergency medicine
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Review Meta Analysis
A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of D-dimer as a Rule-out Test for Suspected Acute Aortic Dissection.
The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to determine the diagnostic accuracy of D-dimer as a rule-out test for acute aortic dissection. Previous meta-analyses have had methodological problems with conflicting conclusions, and new diagnostic accuracy studies have been published since. ⋯ This meta-analysis suggests that a negative D-dimer result may be useful to help rule out acute aortic dissection in low-risk patients.
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Multicenter Study
Emergency Department Corticosteroid Use for Allergy or Anaphylaxis Is Not Associated With Decreased Relapses.
Corticosteroids (steroids) are often used to mitigate symptoms and prevent subsequent reactions in emergency department (ED) patients with allergic reactions, despite a lack of evidence to support their use. We sought to determine the association of steroid administration with improved clinical outcomes. ⋯ Among ED patients with allergic reactions or anaphylaxis, corticosteroid use was not associated with decreased relapses to additional care within 7 days.
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Publication bias compromises the validity of systematic reviews. This problem can be addressed in part through searching clinical trials registries to identify unpublished studies. This study aims to determine how often systematic reviews published in emergency medicine journals include clinical trials registry searches. ⋯ Systematic reviews published in emergency medicine journals do not routinely include searches of clinical trials registries. By helping authors identify unpublished trial data, the addition of registry searches may improve the validity of systematic reviews.
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This study identified the most important quality indicators for online educational resources such as blogs and podcasts. ⋯ The relative importance of quality indicators for emergency medicine blogs and podcasts was determined. This will be helpful for resource producers trying to improve their blogs or podcasts and for learners, educators, and academic leaders assessing their quality. These results will inform broader validation studies and attempts to develop user-friendly assessment instruments for these resources.