Cochrane Library Podcasts

The Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility Group has prepared more than 200 reviews and in May 2018, a team from Germany, The Netherlands and New Zealand updated one of these reviews, looking at the use of letrozole for subfertile women with anovulatory polycystic ovary syndrome. Lead author, Sebastian Franik from the University of Münster in Germany describes the latest findings in this podcast.

 Urinary incontinence is a distressing condition for which there are a variety of treatment options. June Cody from the Cochrane Incontinence Group and colleagues have investigated the effects of a particular type of surgery. They updated the review's findings on the effects of the operations in 2015, and published an extension in July 2017, to include more on the economic aspects. Here's June to tell us about the evidence on the clinical effects.

A variety of approaches have been suggested for reducing muscle soreness after exercise, one of which is to use antioxidant supplements. A new Cochrane Review from December 2017 brought together the evidence from the relevant research and lead author, Mayur Ranchordas from Sheffield Hallam University in the UK, tells us what they found in this podcast.

Coping with the increasing number of people with dementia is likely to be one of the major challenges for health systems globally in coming years and decades. There are several Cochrane Reviews of ways to treat or alleviate this condition and an updated review in March 2018 looks at the evidence for reminiscence therapy. We asked lead author, Bob Woods from Bangor University in Wales, to summarise the findings in this podcast.

Many people vomit or feel nauseous after surgery, and it’s important to find effective ways to ease these unpleasant symptoms. One of the updated Cochrane Reviews in March 2018 looks at the effect of aromatherapy and we asked Sonia Hines from the Queensland Centre for Evidence‐Based Nursing & Midwifery in Australia to tell us more about the latest results.

More than half a dozen Cochrane Reviews have been done in various areas of health, to examine the evidence on the potential benefits of Selenium, a naturally occurring element with both nutritional and toxicological properties. The review looking at its possible role in the prevention of cancer was updated in January 2018 and one of the authors, Maree Brinkman from the Nutrition Biomed Research Institute in Melbourne in Australia. gives us the latest findings in this podcast.

The Cochrane Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care Group has been producing Cochrane Reviews for more than 20 years, including dozens covering a wide range of therapies for pain. In April 2018, their review of brain stimulation for chronic pain was updated and lead author Neil E O'Connell from Brunel University London in the UK tells us about the latest evidence in this podcast.

Many women suffer from incontinence during or after pregnancy, and pelvic muscle exercises are one way to help. In an updated Cochrane Review in December 2017, Stephanie Woodley and Jean Hay-Smith from the University of Otago in New Zealand, and colleagues present the evidence from nearly 40 trials; and they tell us the findings in this podcast.

The Cochrane Work Group has produced many reviews relevant to occupational health and some of these relate directly to the health of healthcare workers. In March 2018, they published a new review doing just that, examining the evidence on the handling of medicines that might be dangerous to staff. Kurinchi Selvan Gurusamy, from UCL Medical School in London England, tells us what they found.

The Cochrane Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care Group is producing a series of reviews on drugs for the treatment of people with fibromyalgia. One of these, published in March 2018, examines the effects of a class of antidepressants called serotonine noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors. In this podcast, one of the co-authors, Brian Walitt, from the National Institute of Nursing Research in the USA, describes the findings.