What are the differences between a systematic review and a meta-analysis? Here are some tips to help you understand these two different yet related types of study.
As seen in a previous blog from Davide, modern neuroscience often interfaces with other medical specialities. In this blog, he provides a summary of new evidence about the potential of a therapeutic strategy born at the crossroad between neurology, immunology and oncology.
Evidence gap maps (EGMs) are graphic representations of the available systematic reviews and ongoing research on relevant topics. Learn more, and test your understanding, in this blog for beginners to the topic.
Neuroscience is a complex world, strongly linked to other medical specialties or scientific fields. This article offers an example of how basic research could be fundamental to shape the future of medicine. This is the summary of a systematic review about using particular molecules like microRNAs as new biomarkers, to obtain a more accurate diagnosis in Mild Cognitive Impairment.
In this blog post, Shreya summarizes a 2022 Cochrane systematic review titled ‘Anticoagulants for people hospitalised with COVID-19’, and provides a background to why this review was necessary.
In this blog, Carolina provides her own summary of a 2022 Cochrane Systematic Review, ‘Replacing salt with low‐sodium salt substitutes (LSSS) for cardiovascular health in adults, children and pregnant women’.
Rapid reviews are often driven by requests for timely evidence for decision-making purposes. This blog is a brief introduction to the topic.
A living systematic review is a type of review which is continually updated, incorporating relevant new evidence as it becomes available.
In this blog, Tessa provides her own summary of a 2018 Cochrane Systematic Review, ‘Visual inspection for diagnosing cutaneous melanoma in adults’.
In this blog, Tessa provides her own summary of a 2015 Cochrane Systematic Review, ‘Safety of topical corticosteroids in pregnancy’.
Searching clinical trial registries is an essential tool to improve the value of systematic reviews. This is a resource review on a paper that describes whether and how this is done in published systematic reviews of pharmacotherapy and assesses their quantitative impact on meta-analysis.
Charlotte and Sophie, final year medical students, discuss a recent Cochrane review assessing the effectiveness of interventions for medical students that aim to improve interpersonal communication in medical consultations.
In this blog, Tessa provides her own summary of a 2019 Cochrane Systematic Review, “Lifestyle changes for treating psoriasis”.
When you see a claim that a treatment or intervention has no effect, it is important to examine the evidence as this may be a misleading statement.
How effective is food as medicine? In April, the media ran several stories about a research study exploring the link between dietary fibre intake and breast cancer. Let’s try and digest the evidence.
Emily spent some time with the Cochrane Common Mental Disorders group and as part of her learning, she used the Cochrane Interactive Learning modules. In this blog she provides a summary of what she learnt from these modules.
This blog looks at the efficacy and acceptability of benzodiazepines vs placebo in treating panic disorder. It provides a summary of a 2019 Cochrane review, looking at the clinical impact of current evidence.
Sophia discusses a recent Cochrane review entitled ‘Inpatient versus outpatient care, partial hospitalisation and waiting list for people with eating disorders’ and considers the implications of the findings.
In this blog, Neelam Khan, a fourth year dental student at the University of Manchester, looks at the latest Cochrane evidence on the full publication of study results initially presented in abstracts and reflects on the implications of the findings.
In this blog, Lucy discusses a recent Cochrane review which summarises all evidence for interventions relevant to the prevention of preterm birth (PTB) as reported in Cochrane systematic reviews (SRs).
A 2014 Cochrane Review compared the effects of using a manual toothbrush with an electric toothbrush for maintaining oral health. What’s the evidence?
GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) is a prominent framework for evaluating the effectiveness of systematic reviews. This blog provides detail of the GRADE approach with useful links to further reading on this key process.
In this blog, Sophia discusses the term ‘treatment-resistant depression’ (TRD) and provides a summary of a 2018 Cochrane review which assessed the effectiveness for psychological therapies for adults with TRD.
A nuts and bolts tutorial on how to read a forest plot, featuring a couple of exercises so that you can test your own understanding.
Managing hypertension is complex, involves lifestyle modifications such as physical activity and dietary interventions, as well as drugs. Here, we highlight the evidence from Cochrane about which drug is better as a first-line therapy.
Currently decisions made on treatment of bronchiectasis are based on guidelines which have a very poor evidence base. Read more to find out!
Heidi reviews ‘Systematic Reviews in Health Care: A Practical Guide’ written by Paul Glasziou, Les Irwig, Chris Bain and Graham Colditz
In this blog, Pishoy discusses how the newest Cochrane review impacts how we treat deep vein thrombosis. Are NOACs the way to go?
Register to become an S4BE Contributor