Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2003
ReviewAntiplatelet therapy for preventing stroke and other vascular events after carotid endarterectomy.
Antiplatelet drugs are effective and safe in a wide variety of patients at high risk of vascular ischaemic events. Among patients undergoing vascular surgical procedures, these agents significantly reduce the risk of graft or native vessel occlusion. In this context we wished to examine their effects in patients after carotid endarterectomy (CEA). ⋯ Our results may indicate that antiplatelet drugs did not significantly change the odds of 'death' but reduce the outcome 'stroke of any cause' in patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy. However, it can not be excluded that the beneficial effect in reducing stroke is due to chance. There is a suggestion that antiplatelets may increase the odds of haemorrhage, but there are currently too few data to quantify this effect.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2003
Review Meta AnalysisAnabolic-androgenic steroids for alcoholic liver disease.
Alcohol is one of the most common causes of liver disease in the Western World today. Randomised clinical trials have examined the effects of anabolic-androgenic steroids for alcoholic liver disease. ⋯ This systematic review could not demonstrate any significant beneficial effects of anabolic-androgenic steroids on any clinically important outcomes (mortality, liver related mortality, liver complications, and histology) of patients with alcoholic liver disease.
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Insulin therapy often relies on multiple daily injections of insulin. However this is a considerable burden to many people with diabetes and adherence to such an insulin regimen can be difficult to maintain, hence compromising optimal glycaemic control. Also, short acting injected insulin is absorbed more slowly than insulin released by the normal pancreas in response to a meal. Inhaled insulin has the potential to reduce the number of injections to perhaps one long-acting insulin per day, and provide a closer match to the natural state, by more rapid absorption from the lung. ⋯ Inhaled insulin taken before meals, in conjunction with an injected basal insulin, has been shown to maintain glycaemic control comparable to that of patients taking multiple daily injections. The key benefit appears to be that patient satisfaction and quality of life are significantly improved, presumably due to the reduced number of daily injections required. However, the patient satisfaction data is based on five trials, of which only two have been published in full; also the three trials containing quality of life data are all only published in abstract form at present. In addition, longer term pulmonary safety data are still needed. Also, the lower bioavailability, and hence higher doses of inhaled insulin required, may make it less cost-effective than injected insulin.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2003
ReviewNeuraminidase inhibitors for preventing and treating influenza in children.
During epidemic years, influenza attack rates in children exceed 40%. Options for prevention and treatment include immunisation, amantadine and rimantadine, and the neuraminidase inhibitors: zanamivir and oseltamivir. ⋯ Neuraminidase inhibitors were effective in shortening illness duration and hastening return to normal activity in previously healthy children with a clinical or laboratory diagnosis of influenza. Oseltamivir was effective in reducing the incidence of secondary complications. Efficacy in 'at risk' children remains to be proven. The drugs are safe, but oseltamivir can cause vomiting.
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Migraine is a common neurovascular disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of disabling headache, autonomic nervous system dysfunction, and, in some patients, neurological aura symptoms. Sumatriptan is one of a class of selective serotonin 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT1B/1D) agonists (triptans) thought to relieve migraine attacks by several mechanisms, including cranial vasoconstriction and peripheral and central neural inhibition. ⋯ Oral sumatriptan has been shown to be an effective drug for the treatment of a single acute attack of migraine. It is well tolerated, though minor adverse events were not uncommon in the included trials. Other triptans were generally similar in efficacy and adverse events. Among non-triptan drugs, ergotamine + caffeine was significantly less effective than sumatriptan, and other drugs have been insufficiently studied to draw firm conclusions.