A Cochrane Review that might be applicable to hundreds of thousands of human beings every day looks at the effects of early skin-to-skin contact for mothers and their healthy newborn babies. This was updated in November 2016 and lead author, Elizabeth Moore from the School of Nursing at Vanderbilt University in Nashville USA describes the latest findings.

Antipsychotic medicines are widely used in mental health settings and there are several Cochrane Reviews of their potential benefits and harms. One of the adverse effects is constipation and a new Cochrane Review from January 2017 looks at some of the treatments for this. We asked the lead author, Susanna Every-Palmer from the Wellington School of Medicine in the University of Otago in New Zealand to tell us what they found.

The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews contains several reviews of interventions to prevent cardiovascular disease such as medications, diet and exercise. A precursor to trying these might be to assess a person’s risk and a new review in March 2017 looks at the evidence for using risk scores to do this. Lead author, Kunal Karmali from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago USA, tells us more in this podcast.

Up to 70 million people worldwide have epilepsy and there are many Cochrane Reviews of ways to treat it. These include reviews that work with the original researchers to gather data on everyone who was in their studies, to perform individual participant data meta-analyses. In November 2016, Sarah Nolan and colleagues from the University of Liverpool in the UK updated one of these reviews, comparing two commonly used drugs, lamotrigine and carbamazepine.

Venous thromboembolism is a common condition with potentially serious and life-threatening consequences, and several reviews from the Cochrane Vascular Group look at the evidence on interventions to prevent or treat it. In an updated review in October 2016, Yanzhi Song from Fudan University in Shanghai China and colleagues brought together the evidence on the use of pentasaccharides to prevent venous thromboembolism. We asked Yanzhi to tell us what they found.

Alongside the thousands of Cochrane Reviews of the effects of treatments, are some that look at the effectiveness of different ways of organising and paying for health care. In a new Cochrane Review from August 2016, Charles Wiysonge from the Cochrane South Africa at the South African Medical Research Council in South Africa and colleagues examined the evidence for public stewardship of private for-profit healthcare providers in low- and middle-income countries. He tells us what they found in this podcast.

In many parts of the world, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the second most common respiratory illness after asthma, and exacerbations and hospitalisations represent a major health burden for patients and healthcare systems. In an updated Cochrane Review from December 2016, Milo Puhan from the University of Zurich in Switzerland and colleagues have examined the latest evidence on the possible role for pulmonary rehabilitation following these exacerbations. Milo tells us what they found in this podcast.

Alongside the thousands of Cochrane Reviews of drugs and other individual treatments are some that investigate the effects of packages of care. One such review was published for the first time in June 2016, assessing strategies intended to integrate the management of childhood illness. We asked lead author, Tarun Gera, from SL Jain Hospital in New Delhi, India to tell us why the review is so important and what it found.

The sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and young people is important both for them as they enter adult life and for the next generation. School-based interventions can help with this and an updated Cochrane Review from November 2016 brings together the evidence. Lead author, Amanda Mason-Jones from the University of York in the UK, tells us what she and her colleagues have found.

The Cochrane Drugs and Alcohol Group oversees the reviews of interventions to help people with alcohol and other drug problems. In February 2017, their review of the use of buprenorphine for managing opioid withdrawal was updated by Linda Gowing from the University of Adelaide in Australia and her colleagues. Linda describes the latest findings in this podcast.