Cochrane Library Podcasts

Some patients who take pharmaceutical opioids to treat pain become dependent on these drugs, and might need to switch to medications such as opioid agonists. In May 2016, a new Cochrane Review brought together the relevant evidence on this and we asked Suzanne Nielsen from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre in Australia to tell us what they found.

Music therapy is used for a variety of conditions and several Cochrane Reviews examine its effects. A team of music therapists with expertise in the use of music therapy with medical patients updated their review for cancer patients in August 2016 and Joke Bradt from the department of Creative Arts Therapies at Drexel University in Philadelphia, USA tells us what they found in this podcast. She conducted the review with Cheryl Dileo from Temple University in Philadelphia, Lucanne Magill from  Mount Sinai Hospital and New York University in New York, and Aaron Teague, doctoral student in the department of Creative Arts Therapies at Drexel University.

The Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group have produced several reviews of the effects of vitamin supplements for pregnant women. Alongside these, in March 2016, researchers from Australia, Brazil and Germany updated the review of taking vitamin A supplementation after birth. One of the team, Christine East from Monash University in Australia, tells us more.

Corticosteroids are a widely used treatment for asthma and a recent addition to the collection of Cochrane Reviews on this condition examines the research that compared different ways of using corticosteroids. Rebecca Normansell and Kayleigh Kew from the Population Health Research Institute at St George's in the University of London in the UK describe the findings of this May 2016 review in this podcast, starting with Rebecca.

Chronic rhinosinusitis is a common disorder of the nose and sinuses, and, in April 2016, the Cochrane ENT Group published a series of six reviews1 looking at the evidence on medical treatments in routine patient care. Carl Philpott from Norwich Medical School in the UK describes the findings of all six reviews in this podcast.

1 - List of reviews:

• Short-course oral steroids alone for chronic rhinosinusitis
• Short-course oral steroids as an adjunct therapy for chronic rhinosinusitis
• Different types of intranasal steroids for chronic rhinosinusitis
• Systemic and topical antibiotics for chronic rhinosinusitis
• Saline irrigation for chronic rhinosinusitis
• Intranasal steroids versus placebo or no intervention for chronic rhinosinusitis

Alongside the thousands of Cochrane Reviews of the effects of health care, a couple of dozen Cochrane Methodology Reviews assess evidence relevant to the conduct of research. In this podcast, Nancy Preston from Lancaster University in England tells us about her February 2016 review which looks for ways to help healthcare practitioners recruit people to research studies.

There is considerable interest in innovative dialysis therapies for people with kidney failure, in particular to remove larger circulating toxins that are poorly removed by standard haemodialysis, which are associated with higher mortality and infection. In an updated Cochrane Review, published in May 2015, Suetonia Palmer from Christchurch in New Zealand and colleagues, brought together the studies of the impact of haemodiafiltration on patient outcomes. She tells us what they found in this podcast.

A major development in health care in recent decades has been the ability of doctors to access difficult to reach parts of a patient’s body through their blood vessels. These endovascular procedures require access to the inside of an artery and need to finish by closing the hole that was created to enter the artery. The lead author of a new Cochrane Review in March 2016, Lindsay Robertson, from Freeman Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK tells us about the evidence for one of the ways to do this.

Epilepsy affects tens of millions of people around the world and alongside many trials and reviews of drugs and other treatments, are studies that have tested more complex strategies. In an updated Cochrane Review from February 2016, Peter Bradley, from Public Health Wales in the UK. and colleagues look at the evidence for some of these. He tells us what they found in this podcast.

One of the major challenges facing the health systems of low and middle-income countries is to improve the antenatal care for pregnant women. In a new Cochrane Review from December 2015, Lawrence Mbuagbaw, from the Yaoundé Central Hospital in Cameroon and McMaster University in Canada, and colleagues have brought together the evidence on health system and community level interventions.