Cochrane Library Podcasts

The Cochrane Colorectal Group produces reviews across a wide range of conditions affecting the intestines. These were added to in March 2024 with a new review of different ways to close the skin when a person’s stoma is reversed. We asked lead author, Shahab Hajibandeh from Health Education and Improvement Wales to tell us more and he used the ElevenLabs AI Voice Generator to record this podcast.

The Cochrane Collaboration has published more than 30 reviews on interventions for patients with pelvic organ prolapse. Of these, a series of 6 systematic reviews specifically relating to surgical management were first published in 2016. These are currently being updated, with the update for one, on transvaginal mesh or grafts in transvaginal prolapse surgery being published in March 2024. In this podcast, one of the co-authors, Professor Christopher Maher speaks with lead author, Dr Ellen Yeung, a consultant urogynaecologist who works in Brisbane, Australia about the latest findings.

Over nearly 30 years, the Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections Group has produced close to 200 reviews. One of their earliest, antibiotics for acute otitis media in children, was first published in 2000 and it was updated for the fourth time in November 2023. Here's two of the authors, Sharon Sanders and Paul Glasziou from the Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare at Bond University in Australia to talk about the latest findings.

There are several Cochrane reviews of strategies and interventions to reduce falls, particularly in older people. In January 2024, we published a new review of population-based approaches for falls prevention, and, in this podcast, Chris Todd, talks to co-author Lisa McGarrigle, both from the University of Manchester in the UK about the findings.

There are several Cochrane reviews relevant to hip or knee replacement surgery, covering a variety of interventions. In this podcast, Parag Raval, a trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, talks with Naomi Gibbs from the Systematic Review Initiative at NHS Blood and Transplant in Oxford, UK, who is one of the authors of the January 2024 review looking at the best medication to stop bleeding in people having this surgery.

Ibuprofen is a widely used painkiller and a new Cochrane review from January 2024 brings together the evidence on its use for postoperative pain in children. In this podcast, two of the co-authors, Sara Pessano from Gaslini Children's Hospital in Genoa Italy, and Natasha Gloeck from the Health Systems Research Unit at the South African Medical Research Council, tell us about the findings.

There are more than 60 Cochrane Reviews relevant to multiple sclerosis and, one of these, a network meta-analysis of immunomodulators and immunosuppressants for relapsing‐remitting multiple sclerosis, was updated in January 2024. We asked the lead author, Francesco Nonino from the Institute of Neurological Science in Bologna, Italy, to tell us more about the condition and the latest evidence in this podcast.

Cochrane Incontinence has produced more than 40 Cochrane reviews of interventions that might help people suffering from incontinence. In this podcast, Roses Parker, Cochrane's Commissioning Editor talks with lead author of the review Emily Carter, a senior clinician and researcher in urogynaecology in the Manchester Foundation Trust in the UK about the October 2023 update of the review for single-incision slings, a type of surgery for stress urinary incontinence.

Digital interventions, or mHealth or eHealth interventions, are increasingly common in health care and it's important to evaluate their effects. With this in mind, a new Cochrane Review from February 2024 examines the evidence for smartphone interventions for adolescents and adults with overweight or obesity. In this podcast, Eva Madrid, from the University of Valparaíso in Chile, talks with lead author Maria-Inti Metzendorf, from the University of Düsseldorf, Germany, both of whom are currently on fellowships at the Iberoamerican Cochrane Center in Barcelona, Spain.

When someone has an acute ischemic stroke, urgent, effective, simple and reliable treatments will reduce their risks of disability or dying from their brain tissue damage. The treatments used vary around the world, and a drug called cerebrolysin and its analogues are widely used in post-Soviet countries, Eastern Europe, and Central and Southeast Asia. In October 2023, the latest update of the Cochrane review was published by researchers from Cochrane Russia based at the Russian Medical Academy of Continuing Professional Education and two of the authors, Dilyara Nurkhametova and Liliya Eugenevna Ziganshina, discuss it for this podcast.