Systemic corticosteroids for radicular and non-radicular low back pain Key messages For radicular low back pain: – systemic corticosteroids may have small benefits on pain and function soon after treatment (short-term follow-up), and might improve function for a while after treatment (long-term follow-up); – benefits appear small, but systemic corticosteroids may be useful as they have few side effects when used for a short period of time, are widely available, and have low costs; systemic corticosteroids probably do not help avoid surgery; – it is unclear whether effectiveness of systemic...

Heart failure symptoms as predictors of hospital admission, readmission and all-cause mortality This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (prognosis). The objectives are as follows: Primary objective To synthesise the evidence on the association between common heart failure symptoms and all-cause and cause-specific outcomes (hospital admission, readmission and mortality) and HRQoL (heart failure-specific or generic). This is a protocol....

Respiratory syncytial virus vaccination during pregnancy for improving infant outcomes This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the efficacy and safety of maternal RSV vaccination for preventing respiratory syncytial virus disease in infants. This is a protocol....

Vitamin B supplementation for sickle cell disease This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the effectiveness of vitamin B supplementation in children and adults with sickle cell disease (SCD), compared to no intervention or an alternative vitamin B supplementation given as part of standard care. This is a protocol....

Antihistamines to prevent and treat motion sickness What is the aim of this review? Motion sickness, also commonly known as sea sickness or car sickness, is a set of symptoms - usually nausea and vomiting. These symptoms are caused by passive body movement - where your body is moving without you consciously making it move - in response to actual motion (for example, driving in a car or being in a boat), or the illusion of motion when exposed to virtual movement (for example, virtual reality simulations) and moving visual environments (such as looking out of the window of a moving train)....

Chinese Herbal Medicine for induced abortion in early pregnancy (before 14 weeks’ gestation) This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine for induced abortion in early pregnancy (before 14 weeks' gestation). This is a protocol....

Additional therapies used with exercise therapy for hip or knee osteoarthritis What was the aim of this review? Osteoarthritis, a chronic degenerative condition that commonly affects hip and knee joints, causes pain and difficulty with everyday activities such as walking. Land-based exercise therapy refers to exercise conducted on land (as opposed to exercise in the water) and is a first-line treatment. This review aimed to find out if adding additional therapies to land-based exercise therapy improved pain, function, quality of life, participant-reported overall change or X-ray changes in...

Oral nutrition interventions in hospitalised older people at nutritional risk: a network meta-analysis of individual participant data This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess in hospitalised older people with (risk of) malnutrition the effects of different nutrition interventions (e.g. supportive interventions, nutritional counselling, food modifications, oral nutritional supplements, comprehensive individualised nutritional interventions or combined approaches) compared to control groups (usual care, placebo or health education...

[Treating juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)-associated uveitis: how well do tumour necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors work?] Key messages Adalimumab appears to be beneficial for the treatment of JIA-associated uveitis while the evidence is very limited to etanercept. We did not find enough evidence to say whether these medications prevent vision loss; however, the studies may not have been long enough to detect changes in vision. Side-effects from TNF inhibitors are usually mild, although rare serious side effects can occur. What is juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis? Juvenile...

Fertility-sparing, surgical interventions for low-risk, non-metastatic gestational trophoblastic neoplasia This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: To measure efficacy and safety of fertility-sparing surgical interventions, with or without adjuvant chemotherapy, for the treatment of women with low-risk, non-metastatic gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (LR-NMGTN). This is a protocol....

C0133 Analgesics for intrauterine device placement This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: To examine the effectiveness of analgesics for routine intrauterine device (IUD) placement on patient (e.g. pain, side effects, satisfaction) and provider outcomes (e.g. ease of placement, need for adjunctive placement measures, placement success) compared with placebo or no treatment. This is a protocol....

Boswellia for osteoarthritis This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the benefits and harms of boswellia extracts (BEs), or formulations containing BEs for osteoarthritis. This is a protocol....

Splinting for dislocated and shallow hips in babies What are dislocated or shallow hips? Dislocated or shallow hips occur when the ball and socket at the end of the thighbone do not fit together. The medical term is ‘developmental dysplasia of the hip' (DDH). Shallow hips occur in 10 out of 1000 newborn babies, though dislocated hips are rarer, occurring in 1 in every 1000 newborns. Hips can be ‘dislocated’, unstable (i.e. easily fall out of the socket during examination) or ‘stable’ (i.e. located in the joint throughout examination). How are these hips treated? Shallow and dislocated hips...

Does collective leadership improve healthcare professionals' actions, patient health care and staff well-being? Key messages Collective leadership involves multiple professionals sharing viewpoints and knowledge. Based on the available evidence, we cannot be sure it makes much difference for professional actions, patient health care or staff well-being. Our confidence in these results varies from moderate to very low, severely limited by the low quality and number of included studies. What did we want to find out? We aimed to see whether experiences with collective leadership (as...

Which hormonal therapy works better for women with early failure of the ovaries? Key messages We only found three studies that looked at a variety of hormonal therapies in three different contexts. Based on the data from these small studies, we were unable to draw any clear conclusions. There is a need for adequately performed and sufficiently large studies to research the best hormonal therapies for women with early failure of the ovaries, in order to improve their chances of having a healthy pregnancy. What is early failure of the ovaries? Ovaries are a pair of glands that respond to, and...

SGLT2 inhibitors for treating diabetes in people with chronic kidney disease This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: This review aims to assess the benefits and harms of SGLT2 inhibitors for lowering glucose levels in people with diabetes and CKD. This is a protocol....

Survivor, family and professional experiences of interventions for sexual abuse and violence What is the aim of this review? The aim of this review was to explore the experiences of survivors of sexual abuse and violence who received interventions to support them and improve their health and well-being, as well as experiences of their family members and the professionals who delivered such interventions. To do this, we analysed 37 studies that described views and experiences of an intervention. Key messages - Survivors, their family members and professionals highlighted that the...

Human stem cells for decompensated cirrhosis in adults This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the benefits and harms of stem cell treatment in adults with decompensated cirrhosis, regardless of ethnicity, sex, types of stem cells, route of stem cell injection, and administered dose. This is a protocol....

Impact of ovarian preservation on survival for women with endometrial carcinoma This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: Primary objective will be to evaluate the impact of ovarian preservation on survival outcomes of women with endometrial cancer, while secondary objectives will be to evaluate the impact of ovarian preservation on adverse events and quality of life (QoL). This is a protocol....

How effective are medications given alongside antipsychotics at preventing weight gain in people with schizophrenia? Key messages - Metformin may be effective in preventing weight gain caused by antipsychotics. - H2 antagonists and monoamine modulators may be slightly effective in preventing weight gain caused by antipsychotics. - Future studies should include more people and evaluate them for longer. What are antipsychotics? Antipsychotics are medications used to treat symptoms of psychosis, such as hallucinations, delusions and agitation. They are often used to treat people with...