Cochrane Db Syst Rev
-
Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2012
ReviewIntravenous lidocaine for the treatment of background or procedural burn pain.
This is an update of the review on 'Lidocaine for pain relief in burn injured patients' first published in Issue 3, 2007. Pain is a major issue for patients suffering from many different types of wounds, in particular those with burn injuries. Prompt, aggressive use of opioid analgesics such as morphine has been suggested as critical to avert the cycle of pain and anxiety, but side effects are encountered. It is proposed that newer agents such as lidocaine could be effective in reducing pain and alleviating the escalating opioid dosage requirements in patients with burn injury. ⋯ As current clinical evidence is based on only one single RCT as well as case series and reports, intravenous lidocaine must be considered a pharmacological agent under investigation in burns care, the effectiveness of which is yet to be determined with further well-designed and conducted clinical trials.
-
Caesarean section rates are progressively rising in many parts of the world. One suggested reason is increasing requests by women for caesarean section in the absence of clear medical indications, such as placenta praevia, HIV infection, contracted pelvis and, arguably, breech presentation or previous caesarean section. The reported benefits of planned caesarean section include greater safety for the baby, less pelvic floor trauma for the mother, avoidance of labour pain and convenience. The potential disadvantages, from observational studies, include increased risk of major morbidity or mortality for the mother, adverse psychological sequelae, and problems in subsequent pregnancies, including uterine scar rupture and a greater risk of stillbirth and neonatal morbidity. The differences in neonatal physiology following vaginal and caesarean births are thought to have implications for the infant, with caesarean section potentially increasing the risk of compromised health in both the short and the long term. An unbiased assessment of advantages and disadvantages would assist discussion of what has become a contentious issue in modern obstetrics. ⋯ There is no evidence from randomised controlled trials, upon which to base any practice recommendations regarding planned caesarean section for non-medical reasons at term. In the absence of trial data, there is an urgent need for a systematic review of observational studies and a synthesis of qualitative data to better assess the short- and long-term effects of caesarean section and vaginal birth.
-
Inhalation of hypertonic saline improves sputum rheology, accelerates mucociliary clearance and improves clinical outcomes of people with cystic fibrosis. ⋯ This review did not identify any evidence comparing the timing of hypertonic saline inhalation in relation to airway clearance physiotherapy. Until such evidence becomes available, clinicians could advise patients to inhale hypertonic saline before airway clearance, because this is the only regimen evaluated in the studies that established the efficacy of the use of hypertonic saline. This review also did not identify any evidence comparing the timing of hypertonic saline inhalation in relation to time of day. Until such evidence becomes available, clinicians could advise patients to inhale hypertonic saline morning and evening; but if only one dose per day is tolerated, the time of day at which it is inhaled could be based on convenience or tolerability.Given the competing theoretical rationales about why hypertonic saline could be more effective if inhaled at certain times, a trial comparing these various timing regimens should be conducted.
-
Malnutrition is a common problem for patients waiting for orthotopic liver transplantation and a risk factor for post-transplant morbidity. The decision to initiate enteral or parenteral nutrition, to which patients and at which time, is still debated. The effects of nutritional supplements given before or after liver transplantation, or both, still remains unclear. ⋯ We were unable to identify nutritional interventions for liver transplanted patients that seemed to offer convincing benefits. Further randomised clinical trials with low risk of bias and powerful sample sizes are needed.
-
Asthma and obesity are both public health problems with increasing prevalence globally. Several epidemiological studies have shown an association between asthma and obesity, however there is no good quality evidence on the effect of weight loss on asthma control. ⋯ Implications for practice This review found one randomized trial that showed that weight loss may be beneficial for improving asthma control in overweight and obese patients, in conjunction with weight loss in intervention groups in the short term. Applying the GRADE system to the results of this review however, shows that the quality of evidence is low, because although all four studies are RCTs there were serious methodological limitations in the studies (unclear risk of selection bias and high risk of detection bias) and imprecision (small sample size). There is inadequate evidence to comment on the effect of weight loss interventions on quality of life and health care utilization. In addition, there was inadequate reporting of data on adverse effects to permit proper balancing of harms and benefits of the interventions. On account of this low quality of evidence, the benefit of weight loss as an intervention for asthma control remains uncertain, and as such, clinicians should be prepared to help patients to make a decision that is consistent with their own values.Implications for research The finding that most of the included studies were of low methodological quality highlights the need for further well designed RCTs, with emphasis on adequate methods of allocation sequence generation as well as allocation concealment and longer follow-up periods. These studies need to report more fully on relevant outcomes (both statistically significant and otherwise) such as: asthma symptoms/control, use of rescue medication, change in lung function parameters (actual mean/median values), hospital utilization, quality of life, and adverse effects. There is also a need for longer intervention as well as follow-up durations to evaluate the effect of sustained measures to achieve weight loss, and to determine if these effects are still significantly present after a considerable period of time.There is also a need for these well designed studies in children and adolescents, as well as in low-income countries such as Africa, where the prepackaged, low energy diets, as well as structured physical activity-based interventions utilized in these included studies, may not be feasible or applicable.