Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2010
ReviewStrategies to improve recruitment to randomised controlled trials.
Recruiting participants to trials can be extremely difficult. Identifying strategies that improve trial recruitment would benefit both trialists and health research. ⋯ Trialists can increase recruitment to their trials by using the strategies shown to be effective in this review: telephone reminders; use of opt-out, rather than opt-in; procedures for contacting potential trial participants and open designs. Some strategies (e.g. open trial designs) need to be considered carefully before use because they also have disadvantages. For example, opt-out procedures are controversial and open designs are by definition unblinded.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2010
ReviewVitamin D for the treatment of chronic painful conditions in adults.
Vitamin D is produced in the skin after sun-light exposure and can also be obtained through food. Vitamin D deficiency has recently been linked with a range of diseases including chronic pain. Observational and circumstantial evidence suggests that there may be a role for vitamin D deficiency in the aetiology of chronic pain conditions. ⋯ The evidence base for the use of vitamin D for chronic pain in adults is poor at present. This is due to low quality and insufficient randomised controlled trials in this area of research.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2010
ReviewWITHDRAWN. Doppler ultrasound for fetal assessment in high risk pregnancies.
Abnormal waveforms from Doppler ultrasound may indicate poor fetal prognosis. It is also possible that Doppler ultrasound could encourage inappropriate early delivery. ⋯ The use of Doppler ultrasound in high risk pregnancies appears to improve a number of obstetric care outcomes and appears promising in helping to reducing perinatal deaths.
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Uterine fibroids (UFs) are benign growths within the uterine muscle and are present in 30% of women during their reproductive years. With the exception of hysterectomy, there are no effective medical and surgical treatments for women with uterine fibroids . Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese method which has been used for both the prevention and treatment of diseases for over three thousand years. There are many types of acupuncture used to manage UFs, with body acupuncture being the most commonly used. The literature reporting the benefits or harms of acupuncture for the management of UFs has not yet been systematically reviewed. ⋯ The effectiveness of acupuncture for the management of uterine fibroids remains uncertain. More evidence is required to establish the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for uterine fibroids.There is a continued need for well designed RCTs with long term follow up.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2010
ReviewBariatric surgery for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in obese patients.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is increasingly recognised as a condition associated with overweight or obesity that may progress to end-stage liver disease. NAFLD histology resembles alcohol-induced liver injury, but occurs in patients with no history of alcohol abuse. NAFLD has a broad spectrum of clinical and histological manifestations, ranging from simple fatty liver to hepatic steatosis with inflammation, advanced fibrosis, and cirrhosis. The inflammatory stage is known as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Recent reports indicate that weight loss induced by bariatric procedures could be beneficial for NASH treatment. ⋯ The lack of randomised clinical trials and quasi-randomised clinical studies precludes us to assess the benefits and harms of bariatric surgery as a therapeutic approach for patients with NASH. Limitations of all other studies with inferior design did not allow us to draw any unbiased conclusion on bariatric surgery for treatment of NASH.