Cochrane

Review question Do inhaled corticosteroids administered to preterm infants with birth weight of up to 1500 grams beginning in the first two weeks after birth prevent chronic lung disease as reflected by the requirement for supplemental oxygen at 36 weeks' postmenstrual age? Background Preterm babies who require breathing support often develop chronic ...

Review question Which interventions help improve people's ability to take lipid-lowering medications more regularly? Background Lipid-lowering therapy has been shown to decrease the risk of both heart attacks and strokes. However, taking these medications as prescribed has not been as high as one would wish. In the past, several methods have been ...

Background Automated telephone communication systems (ATCS) send voice messages and collect health information from people using their telephone's touch-tone keypad or voice recognition software. This could replace or supplement telephone contact between health professionals and patients. There are several types of ATCS: one-way voice messages to ...

Review question: We wished to compare the impact of pulmonary rehabilitation after an exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on hospital readmissions and other patient-important outcomes such as quality of life versus usual post-exacerbation care. Study characteristics: We included 20 studies involving 1477 participants with ...

Review question Is there any difference in effectiveness when undertaking root canal treatment in one visit compared to over several visits, and what are the effects on pain and complications, regardless of whether medication is used? Background This is an update of a review first published in 2007. Root canal treatment, or endodontic treatment, ...

Background and aim Older people with hip fractures are often malnourished at the time of their fracture and many have poor food intake while in hospital. Malnutrition may hinder recovery after hip fracture. We reviewed the effects of nutritional interventions in older people recovering from hip fracture. Search results We searched the scientific ...

What is the issue? Babies are often separated from their mothers at birth. In standard hospital care, newborn infants can be held wrapped or dressed in their mother’s arms, placed in open cribs or under warmers. In skin-to-skin contact (SSC), the newborn infant is placed naked on the mother's bare chest at birth or soon afterwards. Immediate SSC means ...

Background Tobacco use is a leading preventable cause of death worldwide, and smoking rates are especially high among people who are dependent on alcohol or other drugs. People who are being treated for alcohol or other drug addictions have not usually been offered treatment to help them stop smoking at the same time. There has been concern that trying ...

Background Accurately identifying people with dementia is an area of public and professional concern. Dementia is often not diagnosed until late in the disease, and this may limit timely access to appropriate health and social support. There is a growing interest in tests that detect dementia at an early stage, before symptoms have become problematic ...

This is an updated version of the original Cochrane review published in Issue 1, 2006 of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Background Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder in which abnormal electrical discharges from the brain cause recurrent seizures. We studied two types of epileptic seizures in this review: generalised onset seizures ...