Cochrane Library Podcasts

In a world searching for medications to reverse or halt the progression of dementia, psychosocial approaches can be overlooked but remain a key part of the support offered to help people live as well as they can with the condition. These approaches include cognitive rehabilitation, and in June 2023, we published a new Cochrane review of its effects. Here's lead author, Aleksandra Kudlicka from the University of Exeter in the UK, to explain the therapy and summarize the review findings.

The Cochrane Neonatal Group works on producing and updating Cochrane Reviews to provide comprehensive data based on the latest evidence about the care of babies and infants. In December 2023, they added to their more than 450 reviews with one on the position used to perform spinal taps. Here are two co-authors of the review, Marcus Glenton Prescott from St. Olav’s Hospital, Trondheim in Norway and Sara Pessano from Gaslini Children's Hospital in Genoa Italy, to tell us about the findings.

Alongside the many Cochrane reviews of pharmacological treatments are some that look at how to ensure that these treatments are used appropriately. The third update of one of these, for polypharmacy in older people, was published in October 2023. Here's the new first author, Judith Cole from the Clinical Trials Service Unit at the University of Oxford in the UK to tell us more.

Malaria is arguably the most important parasitic disease in the world and the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group has produced more than 60 relevant reviews. These were added to in August 2023 with a new review of the effects of topical repellents. We asked lead author, Juan Carlos Gabaldon from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health in Spain to tell us about the findings in this podcast.

The Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group produces reviews that cover the prevention and treatment of a wide range of illnesses. These include cholera and their review on cholera vaccines was updated in January 2024. Here's the new lead author, KM Saif-Ur-Rahman from Evidence Synthesis Ireland and Cochrane Ireland in University of Galway to tell us more.

There are more than 100 Cochrane reviews of interventions that might be used to help people with dementia. One of these, on dance movement therapy, was updated in August 2023 and we asked lead author, Vicky Karkou from Edge Hill University in Ormskirk in the UK, to tell us more in this podcast.

Many patients in intensive care develop delirium and there are several Cochrane reviews of ways to treat it. In November 2023, we added a review on the reliability of the confusion assessment method for diagnosing it and asked lead author, Fabian Miranda from the Universidad de Chile in Santiago, to tell us about the topic and the review's findings in this podcast.

There are several Cochrane Reviews of the effects of a class of drugs called antioxidants, covering a wide range of health conditions. One of these, focused on adults with chronic kidney disease, was updated in November 2023. In this podcast, Julia Colombijn, talks with fellow author, Robin Vernooij, both from the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, about the topic and the findings of the review.

One of the updated Cochrane Reviews from October 2023 is the third update of a review of the effects of vaccines for Herpes Zoster. It was conducted by a team of researchers in Brazil and we asked one of the authors, Juliana Gomes from the Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology at the Federal University of São Paulo, to describe its importance and main findings.

Respiratory infections are one of the commonest reasons for patients to present to primary care or general practice, and antibiotics are widely used as a treatment for them. However, there are increasing concerns about the use of antibiotics and various strategies have been developed to reduce their use. These include something called 'delayed antibiotics' and, in October 2023, the relevant Cochrane Review was updated. Here's Geoff Spurling from the University of Queensland in Australia to tell us about this strategy and the latest findings of the review.