Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Feb 2015
Review Meta AnalysisFluphenazine decanoate (depot) and enanthate for schizophrenia.
Intramuscular injections (depot preparations) offer an advantage over oral medication for treating schizophrenia by reducing poor compliance. The benefits gained by long-acting preparations, however, may be offset by a higher incidence of adverse effects. ⋯ There are more data for fluphenazine decanoate than for the enanthate ester. Both are effective antipsychotic preparations. Fluphenazine decanoate produced fewer movement disorder effects than other oral antipsychotics but data were of low quality, and overall, adverse effect data were equivocal. In the context of trials, there is little advantage of these depots over oral medications in terms of compliance but this is unlikely to be applicable to everyday clinical practice.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Feb 2015
Review Meta AnalysisSingle dose oral ibuprofen plus codeine for acute postoperative pain in adults.
This is an update of the original Cochrane review published in Issue 3, 2013. There is good evidence that combining two different analgesics in fixed doses in a single tablet can provide better pain relief in acute pain and headache than either drug alone, and that the drug-specific effects are essentially additive. This appears to be broadly true in postoperative pain and migraine headache across a range of different drug combinations and when tested in the same and different trials. Some combinations of ibuprofen and codeine are available without prescription (but usually only from a pharmacy) where the dose of codeine is lower, and with a prescription when the dose of codeine is higher.Use of combination analgesics that contain codeine has been a source of some concern because of misuse from over-the-counter preparations. ⋯ The combination of ibuprofen 400 mg plus codeine 25.6 mg to 60 mg demonstrates good analgesic efficacy. Very limited data suggest that the combination is better than the same dose of either drug alone, and that similar numbers of people experience adverse events with the combination as with placebo.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Feb 2015
Review Meta AnalysisMobile bearing vs fixed bearing prostheses for posterior cruciate retaining total knee arthroplasty for postoperative functional status in patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
It is unclear whether there are differences in benefits and harms between mobile and fixed prostheses for total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The previous Cochrane review published in 2004 included two articles. Many more trials have been performed since then; therefore an update is needed. ⋯ Moderate- to low-quality evidence suggests that mobile bearing prostheses may have similar effects on knee pain, clinical and functional scores, health-related quality of life, revision surgery, mortality, reoperation rate and other serious adverse events compared with fixed bearing prostheses in posterior cruciate retaining TKA. Therefore we cannot draw firm conclusions. Most (98.5%) participants had OA, so the findings primarily reflect results reported in participants with OA. Future studies should report in greater detail outcomes such as those presented in this systematic review, with sufficient follow-up time to allow gathering of high-quality evidence and to inform clinical practice. Large registry-based studies may have added value, but they are subject to treatment-by-indication bias. Therefore, this systematic review of RCTs can be viewed as the best available evidence.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Feb 2015
Review Meta AnalysisGroup versus conventional antenatal care for women.
Antenatal care is one of the key preventive health services used around the world. In most Western countries, antenatal care traditionally involves a schedule of one-to-one visits with a care provider. A different way of providing antenatal care involves use of a group model. ⋯ Available evidence suggests that group antenatal care is positively viewed by women and is associated with no adverse outcomes for them or for their babies. No differences in the rate of preterm birth were reported when women received group antenatal care. This review is limited because of the small numbers of studies and women, and because one study contributed 42% of the women. Most of the analyses are based on a single study. Additional research is required to determine whether group antenatal care is associated with significant benefit in terms of preterm birth or birthweight.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Feb 2015
Review Meta AnalysisProbiotics for preventing acute upper respiratory tract infections.
Probiotics may improve a person's health by regulating their immune function. Some trials have shown that probiotic strains can prevent respiratory infections. Even though the previous version of our review showed benefits of probiotics for acute upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs), several new studies have been published. ⋯ Probiotics were better than placebo in reducing the number of participants experiencing episodes of acute URTI, the mean duration of an episode of acute URTI, antibiotic use and cold-related school absence. This indicates that probiotics may be more beneficial than placebo for preventing acute URTIs. However, the quality of the evidence was low or very low.