Cochrane Library Podcasts

One of the questions that arises for people with well-controlled asthma is whether it’s better or worse for them to stop taking their long-acting beta2-agonist inhaler. Kayleigh Kew (left) and Rebecca Normansell from the Cochrane Airways Group in London UK are part of the team that have tried to answer this in a new review in June 2015. They explain more in this Evidence Pod, starting with Rebecca and some background.

The Cochrane Drugs and Alcohol Group prepares and maintains reviews of ways to help people who harmfully use, abuse or are dependent on drugs, both legal and illegal. In a new Cochrane Review in May 2015, Catherine Darker from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, and colleagues, looked at the effects of psychosocial interventions for treating people experiencing these problems with benzodiazepines. She tells us what they found in this Evidence Pod.

One of the possible problems for patients during surgical operations is that their body temperature falls. There are a variety of ways to prevent this, and a new Cochrane Review from April 2015 looks at one of these, the use of intravenous and irrigation fluids. Gillian Campbell, a consultant anaesthetist at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee in Scotland, and lead author for the review tells us more.

Alongside the thousands of Cochrane Reviews of the effects of treatments, are some that examine interventions to help with medical procedures. Among these is an April 2015 review of preoperative ripening of the cervix before an operative hysteroscopy. Haya Al-Fozan from the King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia describes the importance of this review and its findings in this Evidence Pod.

Since 1992, people have participated in the work of Cochrane for a wide variety of reasons. Since the beginning, the importance of involving people with the condition has been a well-recognised component in ensuring that Cochrane Reviews are relevant to decision makers. One such ‘consumer’ is Maxine Whitton who works with the Cochrane Skin Group, based in Nottingham England. She tells her story in this Evidence Pod.

One suggestion for reducing the pain of a needle injection is to suck a small amount of a sweet tasting solution. Its effectiveness for children aged from 1 to 16 years of age is examined in a Cochrane Review, which was updated in May 2015. The lead author, Denise Harrison from the University of Ottawa in Canada, tells us why they did the review and what they found, in this Evidence Pod.

Tuberculosis is a leading cause of death in low- and middle-income countries, despite the availability of effective treatments. In the latest update of the Cochrane Review of one of the methods that might help in the delivery of these treatments, Jamlick Karumbi and Paul Garner have brought together the latest evidence on directly observed therapy. Jamlick, from the SIRCLE collaboration based in Nairobi in Kenya, tells us what they found in the review that was published in May 2015.

The Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group maintains the largest collection of Cochrane Reviews, covering a very wide range of interventions and actions. This includes some of the everyday aspects of life during pregnancy, and an updated review from June 2015 does this for caffeine intake. Lead author, Shayesteh Jahanfar from the Department of Public Health in University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, sets the scene and describes the evidence.

Cochrane Reviews examine the evidence on ways to help smokers to quit and to stop people from starting to smoke. In April 2013 one of these looked at school-based programmes that aim to prevent smoking by children and adolescents. The lead author, Roger Thomas from the University of Calgary in Canada begins this Evidence Pod by posing the question that he and his co-authors set out to answer.

Most of the reviews from the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group look at ways to help smokers to quit, but some of them explore how to stop people from starting to smoke in the first place. One of their updated reviews from February 2015 does this for family-based programmes that aim to prevent smoking by children and adolescents. The lead author, Roger Thomas from the University of Calgary in Canada tells us what they found and begins by posing and answering the questions that drove the review.