JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Enduring effects of nurse home visitation on maternal life course: a 3-year follow-up of a randomized trial.
A home visitation program using nurses to improve maternal and child outcomes had favorable results in a randomized trial with a primarily white, semirural population. Many of the short-term findings have been replicated with urban blacks, but whether the program will continue to demonstrate effectiveness after its conclusion is uncertain. ⋯ We found enduring effects of a home visitation program on the lives of black women living in an urban setting. While these results were smaller in magnitude than those achieved in a previous trial with white women living in a semirural setting, the direction of the effects was consistent across the 2 studies.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Ketoconazole for early treatment of acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome: a randomized controlled trial. The ARDS Network.
Three clinical studies have suggested that ketoconazole, a synthetic imidazole with anti-inflammatory activity, may prevent the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in critically ill patients. However, the use of ketoconazole as treatment for acute lung injury (ALI) and ARDS has not been previously studied. ⋯ In these patients with ALI or ARDS, ketoconazole was safe and bioavailable but did not reduce mortality or duration of mechanical ventilation or improve lung function. These data do not support the use of ketoconazole for the early treatment of ALI or ARDS.
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Because of the pressure for timely, informed decisions in public health and clinical practice and the explosion of information in the scientific literature, research results must be synthesized. Meta-analyses are increasingly used to address this problem, and they often evaluate observational studies. A workshop was held in Atlanta, Ga, in April 1997, to examine the reporting of meta-analyses of observational studies and to make recommendations to aid authors, reviewers, editors, and readers. ⋯ The proposed checklist contains specifications for reporting of meta-analyses of observational studies in epidemiology, including background, search strategy, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. Use of the checklist should improve the usefulness of meta-analyses for authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and decision makers. An evaluation plan is suggested and research areas are explored.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Efficacy and safety of sertraline treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled trial.
Despite the high prevalence, chronicity, and associated comorbidity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the community, few placebo-controlled studies have evaluated the efficacy of pharmacotherapy for this disorder. ⋯ Our data suggest that sertraline is a safe, well-tolerated, and effective treatment for PTSD.
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Information about the performance of hospitals, health professionals, and health care organizations has been made public in the United States for more than a decade. The expected gains of public disclosure have not been made clear, and both the benefits and potential risks have received minimal empirical investigation. ⋯ There are several potential gains from the public disclosure of performance data, but use of the information by provider organizations for quality improvement may be the most productive area for further research.