Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Apr 2009
Review Meta AnalysisChlorpromazine dose for people with schizophrenia.
Chlorpromazine is one of the three antipsychotic drugs on the WHO Essential Drug List. It is used worldwide. The optimal dose has been the subject of evaluative research but summaries of this work are rare. ⋯ The average dose of chlorpromazine given to people with schizophrenia has declined across time, but this has come about by long - and sometimes hard - experience rather than from direction from high-grade trial-based evidence. This progression towards gentler levels of dosing has taken six decades. We hope that, for modern compounds, data from relevant high-grade evaluative studies will be much more swiftly available to guide informed practice.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Apr 2009
Review Meta AnalysisRoutine preoperative medical testing for cataract surgery.
Cataract surgery is practiced widely and substantial resources are committed to an increasing cataract surgical rate in developing countries. With the current volume of cataract surgery and the increases in the future, it is critical to optimize the safety and cost-effectiveness of this procedure. Most cataracts are performed on older individuals with correspondingly high systemic and ocular comorbidities. It is likely that routine preoperative medical testing will detect medical conditions, but it is questionable whether these conditions should preclude individuals from cataract surgery or change their perioperative management. ⋯ This review has shown that routine pre-operative testing does not increase the safety of cataract surgery. Alternatives to routine preoperative medical testing have been proposed, including self-administered health questionnaires, which could substitute for health provider histories and physical examinations. Such avenues may lead to cost-effective means of identifying those at increased risk of medical adverse events due to cataract surgery. However, despite the rare occurrence, adverse medical events precipitated by cataract surgery remain a concern because of the large number of elderly patients with multiple medical comorbidities who have cataract surgery in various settings. The studies summarized in this review should assist recommendations for the standard of care of cataract surgery, at least in developed settings. Unfortunately, in developing country settings, medical history questionnaires would be useless to screen for risk since few people have ever been to a physician, let alone been diagnosed with any chronic disease.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Apr 2009
Review Meta AnalysisCombination formoterol and budesonide as maintenance and reliever therapy versus inhaled steroid maintenance for chronic asthma in adults and children.
Traditionally inhaled treatment for asthma has been considered as preventer and reliever therapy. The combination of formoterol and budesonide in a single inhaler introduces the possibility of using a single inhaler for both prevention and relief of symptoms (single inhaler therapy). ⋯ Single inhaler therapy can reduce the risk of asthma exacerbations needing oral corticosteroids in comparison with fixed dose maintenance inhaled corticosteroids. Guidelines and common best practice suggest the addition of regular long-acting beta(2)-agonist to inhaled corticosteroids for uncontrolled asthma, and single inhaler therapy has not been demonstrated to significantly reduce exacerbations in comparison with current best practice, although results of five large trials are awaiting full publication. Single inhaler therapy is not currently licensed for children under 18 years of age in the United Kingdom.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Apr 2009
Review Meta AnalysisVitamin D and vitamin D analogues for preventing fractures associated with involutional and post-menopausal osteoporosis.
Vitamin D and related compounds have been used to prevent osteoporotic fractures in older people. ⋯ Frail older people confined to institutions may sustain fewer hip fractures if given vitamin D with calcium. Vitamin D alone is unlikely to prevent fracture. Overall there is a small but significant increase in gastrointestinal symptoms and renal disease associated with vitamin D or its analogues. Calcitriol is associated with an increased incidence of hypercalcaemia.
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Enthusiasts suggest that labouring in water and waterbirth increase maternal relaxation, reduce analgesia requirements and promote a midwifery model of care. Sceptics cite the possibility of neonatal water inhalation and maternal/neonatal infection. ⋯ Evidence suggests that water immersion during the first stage of labour reduces the use of epidural/spinal analgesia. There is limited information for other outcomes related to water use during the first and second stages of labour, due to intervention and outcome variability. There is no evidence of increased adverse effects to the fetus/neonate or woman from labouring in water or waterbirth. The fact that use of water immersion in labour and birth is now a widely available care option for women threatens the feasibility of a large, multicentre randomised controlled trial.