It is widely recognised that more emphasis needs to be given to the role of the patient in making decisions about their health care. But what are the best ways to make this happen? Some of the answers are in the July 2018 update of a Cochrane Review on shared decision making and we asked the lead author, France Légaré from Université Laval in Québec Canada, to tell us why this is important and what they found.

Evidence Aid, an organisation dedicated to improving the use of evidence in humanitarian crises, highlights information from Cochrane and other systematic reviews of particular relevance to those involved in humanitarian assistance and, in July 2018, these were added to by a report on psychological therapies for the treatment of mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries. We asked one of the authors, Marianna Purgato from the University of Verona in Italy, to tell us about this new Cochrane Review.

There are more than 20 Cochrane Reviews of interventions that might be used in the care of children with autism spectrum disorder. In July 2018, these were added to with an assessment of the accuracy of tests for this condition. Senior author, Katrina Williams from the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne in Australia, tells us what they found in this podcast.

Patients who require general anaesthesia or ventilation to help them breathe while in intensive care, need a clear airway. This is usually achieved by inserting a tube to help air reach their lungs and a new Cochrane Review from May 2018 examines the evidence for different tests to help doctors assess how difficult this might be for patients with no immediately obvious problems with their breathing. We asked one of the authors, Jasmin Arrich from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria, to tell us what they found.

Most Cochrane Reviews look at the effects of interventions on health, but a growing number are providing g evidence on the accuracy of different ways of diagnosing a disease. These were added to in August 2018 by a new review on a test used in the management of tuberculosis. The review’s first author, Mikashmi Kohli from McGill University in Montreal Canada, sets the scene and tells us what they found in this podcast.

Acute otitis media is a common infection in children, with research showing that up to four in every five children in high-income countries will have at least one episode by the age of three. Influenza vaccines have been suggested as a way to prevent this, and an updated Cochrane Review from October 2017 looks at the latest evidence. Here’s the review’s lead author, Norhayati from the Universiti Sains Malaysia in Kubang Kerian, Malaysia, to tell us more.

Cystic fibrosis is a common inherited condition, particularly affecting people from a northern European background.  It's caused by various mutations of the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator gene, shortened to "CFTR".  A new Cochrane Review from August 2018 examines a class of drug that aims to correct the basic defect for people with CF with a specific mutation, and we asked lead author, Kevin Southern from the University of Liverpool in the UK, to tell us what they found.

There are concerns across the world about the rising incidence of type 2 diabetes, increasing the importance of evidence for effective ways to prevent this condition. In a December 2017 update to the Cochrane Review, Bianca Hemmingsen from Herlev University Hospital in Denmark and colleagues have summarized the latest evidence on the effects of diet and physical activity for people with intermediate hyperglycaemia or prediabetes. We asked Bianca to tell us what they found in this podcast.

The Cochrane Drugs and Alcohol Group specialises in reviews that assess, among other things, ways to reduce hazardous or harmful drinking of alcohol. One of these reviews looks at the evidence on practitioner-delivered brief interventions and we asked one of the authors, Fiona Beyer from Newcastle University in the UK to tell us about the findings from the update in February 2018.

As you can imagine, placing a breathing tube into a newborn baby is a particularly challenging task, and research has been done into different ways to do this. In June 2018, Mohan Pammi and Krithika Lingappan from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in the USA updated the Cochrane review on comparing videolaryngoscopy to the traditional direct laryngoscopy approach and they describe the latest findings in this podcast, starting with Mohan.