Cochrane Library Podcasts

Many people with chronic disease have more than one illness, which is referred to as multimorbidity. Susan Smith from the Department of General Practice at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland describes an updated, March 2016, Cochrane Review which sought out evidence on interventions that might help.

Caesarean section is probably one of the commonest surgical procedures and is usually fairly straightforward. However, problems can arise and an updated Cochrane Review in January 2016 looks at interventions that might help in those circumstances. Heather Waterfall, from Lyell McEwin Hospital in Elizabeth, South Australia describes the findings.

The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews contains dozens of reviews of the accuracy of diagnostic tests and imaging, along with the thousands of reviews of the effects of treatments. In November 2015, these were added to by a new review of imaging devices for glaucoma and Gianni Virgili, from the University of Florence in Italy, tells us about the findings in this Evidence Pod.

A new Cochrane Review from December 2015 examines the effects of the drug amiodarone on the prevention of sudden cardiac death. The lead author, Juan Carlos Claro, from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, in Santiago, Chile, describes the review and its findings in this Evidence Pod.

Many people experience the “winter blues”, but some suffer from seasonal affective disorder, which has a major impact on their quality of life. Some people have turned to light therapy to try to prevent it and a team of researchers from Austria and the USA published the Cochrane Review of the evidence in November 2015. Lead author, Barbara Nussbaumer, from the Danube University Krems in Austria, tells us more.

One of the most noticeable public health measures of recent years in several countries has been the ban on smoking in public places such as restaurants. A Cochrane Review is examining the health effects of these bans and it was updated in February 2016. We asked Kate Frazer from University College Dublin in Ireland, the first country in the world to introduce one of these national bans, to tell us about the expanding evidence base and the latest findings.

Dr Kate Frazer was awarded a Cochrane Training Fellowship and received funding from the Health Research Board, Ireland to undertake the update of this Cochrane Review.

A new Cochrane Review from February 2016, which was prepared as part of a programme of reviews funded by the National Institute for Health Research in England investigates the evidence on enhanced recovery protocols for major upper gastrointestinal surgery. Kurinchi Gurusamy, from the Department of Surgery in UCL Medical School in London tells us what they found.

Invasive fungal infections are important causes of morbidity and mortality among critically ill patients, and an updated Cochrane Review in January 2016 examines the effects of antifungal agents to prevent these infections. The lead author, Andrea Cortegiani, from the University of Palermo in Italy summarises the latest evidence in this podcast.

Complementing a number of other Cochrane Reviews of ways to improve the prescription of medicines to people as they get older, the review focused on prescribing for people in care homes was updated in February 2016. David Alldred from the School of Heathcare at the University of Leeds in England summarises the latest evidence.

Shared decision making happens when health decisions are made together by a clinician and a patient, and there are a variety of ways to facilitate it in different circumstances. In this Evidence Pod, Tammy Hoffmann & Peter Coxeter from Bond University in Queensland Australia, tells us about the research that they and colleagues brought together in a new Cochrane Review in November 2015 for discussion about antibiotic use for acute respiratory infections in primary care.