Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2003
Review Meta AnalysisEtanercept for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
Etanercept is a soluble tumour necrosis factor alpha-receptor DMARD for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). ⋯ Etanercept 25 mg SC twice weekly was more efficacious than control treatment for ACR 20, 50 and 70 at 6 months, and over 12 months it slowed joint damage.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2003
Review Meta AnalysisAmitriptyline versus other types of pharmacotherapy for depression.
For many years amitriptyline has been considered one of the reference compounds for the pharmacological treatment of depression. However, new tricyclic drugs, heterocyclic compounds and the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have been introduced on the market with the claim of a more favourable tolerability/efficacy profile. ⋯ This present systematic review indicates that amitriptyline is at least as efficacious as other tricyclics or newer compounds. However, the burden of side-effects in patients receiving it was greater. In comparison with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors amitriptyline was less well tolerated, and although counterbalanced by a higher proportion of responders, the difference was not statistically significant.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2003
Review Meta AnalysisCot-nursing versus incubator care for preterm infants.
An optimal thermal environment is desirable for preterm infants. These infants are usually nursed in incubators, but cot-nursing may provide an alternative. Measures to assist the maintenance of body temperature for smaller infants in open cots include extra clothing/bedding, warming up the nursery and heating the cot mattress. Recently a heated water-filled mattress has been developed to maintain the temperature of a cot-nursed preterm infant. While there may be benefits of nursing preterm infants in open cots, there may be potential risks such as nosocomial infection caused by more handling due to easier access. ⋯ Due to the small numbers of trials included and infants studied, and the resulting imprecision in the measures of effect for all outcomes, the review does not give a clear indication for the role of cot-nursing for preterm infants. Further assessment of the role of cot nursing for preterm infants using randomised controlled trials is necessary.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2003
Review Meta AnalysisDipyridamole for preventing stroke and other vascular events in patients with vascular disease.
Patients with transient ischaemic attacks (TIA) and minor ischaemic strokes are at risk of serious vascular events (death from all vascular causes, non-fatal stroke, or non-fatal myocardial infarction). Their risk of vascular events lies between 4 and 11 percent per year. Aspirin only, in a daily dose of 30 mg or more, offers only modest protection in such patients: it reduces the incidence of major vascular events by 13 percent. In a single trial, adding dipyridamole (an alternative antiplatelet agent) to aspirin was associated with a 22 percent reduction in the risk of major vascular events compared with aspirin alone. However, a systematic review of all trials of antiplatelet agents by the Antithrombotic Trialists' Collaboration showed that, in high risk patients, there was virtually no difference between the aspirin-dipyridamole combination and aspirin alone. We therefore sought to assess the effects of dipyridamole in more detail. ⋯ This review found that, for patients who presented with arterial vascular disease, there was no evidence that dipyridamole, in the presence or absence of an other antiplatelet drug (chiefly aspirin) reduced the risk of vascular death, though it may reduce the risk of further vascular events. However, this benefit was found in only a single large trial and only in patients presenting after cerebral ischaemia. There was no evidence that dipyridamole alone was more efficacious than aspirin. Further trials comparing the effects of the combination of dipyridamole with aspirin with aspirin alone are justified.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2003
Review Meta AnalysisTranscutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for dementia.
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is the application of an electrical current through electrodes attached to the skin. The commonest clinical application of TENS is pain control. TENS is also used occasionally for the treatment of a range of neurological and psychiatric conditions including drug and alcohol dependence, headaches, and depression. TENS is rarely used for the treatment of dementia. However, since the early 1990s a number of studies carried out by a group in the Netherlands, and one study carried out by a group in Japan, suggest that TENS applied to the back or head may improve cognition and behaviour in patients with Alzheimer's disease or multi-infarct dementia. It was claimed that applying TENS could benefit patients with dementia by altering the activity of various neurotransmitters, or by increasing brain activity and thereby retarding neural degeneration and stimulating regenerative processes. It is claimed that application of TENS to the head may also alleviate the sleep disorders associated with dementia. ⋯ Although a number of studies suggest that TENS may produce short lived improvements in some neuropsychological or behavioural aspects of dementia, the limited presentation and availability of data from these studies does not allow definite conclusions on the possible benefits of this intervention. Since most of the currently published studies are well designed, although the numbers of subjects in each study is small, analysis of the complete original data from these and/or future studies may allow more definitive conclusions to be drawn.