Cochrane Library Podcasts

The Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility Group maintains a pair of reviews on the use of antioxidants in the treatment of subfertility. The review for males was updated in May 2022 and we asked Wiep de Ligny from the Radboud University Medical Center at Nijmegen in the Netherlands to tell us about the importance of the review and its latest findings in this podcast.

In May 2022, the Cochrane Multiple Sclerosis and Rare Diseases of the CNS Group published a new review of the effects of cannabis and cannabinoids for the treatment of people with multiple sclerosis. In this podcast, Silvia Minozzi, Co-ordinating Editor of the Cochrane Drugs and Alcohol Group and an author on the review talks with lead author and Co-ordinating Editor of the Cochrane Multiple Sclerosis Group, Graziella Filippini, about the review.

Anaesthetists use a variety of techniques to insert a breathing tube into a patient before an operation. These include using a rigid indirect videolaryngoscope and the Cochrane review comparing this with the traditional direct laryngoscope was updated in April 2022. In this podcast, two of the authors, Jan Hansel and Andy Rogers, who are from Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Trust in the UK, chatted about the procedures.

The Cochrane Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care Group has more than 270 active full reviews in the Cochrane Library. They added to these in May 2022 with a new review of the effects of giving antiemetics to adults receiving intravenous opioids in acute care. We asked lead author, Michael Gottlieb from the Department of Emergency Medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, USA, to tell us more in this podcast.

Alongside the dozens of Cochrane Reviews of possible treatments for dementia, are reviews looking at how to diagnose it, including the use of a phone or video call rather than an in-person visit. In April 2022, we added a new review to these, evaluating the accuracy of remote cognitive assessment and we asked Amy Elliott to speak with lead author and colleague at the University of Leicester in England, Lucy Beishon about the review for this podcast.

Alongside quantitative evidence on the effects of healthcare interventions, it's important to have qualitative evidence on people's views about these interventions, particularly if they are delivered at the population level. This is the case with mass drug administration for filariasis, which is a parasitic disease that can result in swollen limbs and disability and, in February 2022, the Cochrane Infectious Diseases group, based at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the UK, published a qualitative evidence synthesis on community views about this intervention.

The Cochrane programme of reviews for COVID-19 covers both the diagnosis and treatment of the disease and reviews are being updated as new evidence becomes available. Among these is a review of chest imaging for diagnosing the condition, and its fourth version was published in May 2022. We asked the lead author, Sanam Ebrahimzadeh, from The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute in Canada, to describe the latest findings in this podcast.

Cochrane Musculoskeletal has produced more than 200 systematic reviews of interventions for the prevention, treatment or rehabilitation of musculoskeletal disorders. These were added to in March 2022 with a new review of the effects of a type of surgery called knee arthroscopy. In this podcast, Ray Moynihan from Bond University in Australia, talks with lead author, Denise O'Connor, from Monash University and Cabrini Hospital in Melbourne.

The most common type of stroke is one in which a large artery in the brain gets blocked by a blood clot and there are dozens of Cochrane reviews of various treatments for these ischaemic strokes. One of these reviews, looking at the effects of endovascular thrombectomy and intra-arterial interventions, was updated in June 2021 and lead author, Melinda Roaldsen from the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, briefly describes the new findings in this  podcast.

Cochrane has published several reviews of the effects of interventions to reduce self-harm and suicide and, in the first few months of 2021, three of these were updated covering pharmacological and psychosocial interventions for self-harm in children, adolescents and adults. We asked two of the authors, Keith Hawton and Katrina Witt to tell us about the findings in this podcast.

Note: This recording covers three reviews:
- Interventions for children and adolescents who self-harm
- Psychosocial interventions for adults who self-harm
- Drugs and natural products for self-harm in adults