Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2013
Review Meta AnalysisInterventions for preventing and treating pelvic and back pain in pregnancy.
More than two-thirds of pregnant women experience low-back pain (LBP) and almost one-fifth experience pelvic pain. Pain increases with advancing pregnancy and interferes with work, daily activities and sleep. ⋯ Moderate-quality evidence suggested that acupuncture or exercise, tailored to the stage of pregnancy, significantly reduced evening pelvic pain or lumbo-pelvic pain more than usual care alone, acupuncture was significantly more effective than exercise for reducing evening pelvic pain, and a 16- to 20-week training program was no more successful than usual prenatal care at preventing pelvic or LBP. Low-quality evidence suggested that exercise significantly reduced pain and disability from LBP.There was low-quality evidence from single trials for other outcomes because of high risk of bias and sparse data; clinical heterogeneity precluded pooling. Publication bias and selective reporting cannot be ruled out.Physiotherapy, OMT, acupuncture, a multi-modal intervention, or the addition of a rigid pelvic belt to exercise seemed to relieve pelvic or back pain more than usual care alone. Acupuncture was more effective than physiotherapy at relieving evening lumbo-pelvic pain and disability and improving pain and function when it was started at 26- rather than 20-weeks' gestation, although the effects were small.There was no significant difference in LBP and function for different support belts, exercise, neuro emotional technique or spinal manipulation (SMT), or in evening pelvic pain between deep and superficial acupuncture.Very low-quality evidence suggested a specially-designed pillow may reduce night-time LBP.Further research is very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimates of effect and is likely to change the estimates. Future research would benefit from the introduction of an agreed classification system that can be used to categorise women according to presenting symptoms.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2013
ReviewPharmacological interventions for self-injurious behaviour in adults with intellectual disabilities.
Self-injurious behaviour among people with intellectual disability is relatively common and often persistent. Self-injurious behaviour continues to present a challenge to clinicians. It remains poorly understood and difficult to ameliorate despite advances in neurobiology and psychological therapies. There is a strong need for a better evidence base in prescribing and monitoring of drugs in this population, especially since none of the drugs are actually licensed for self-injurious behaviour. ⋯ There was weak evidence in included trials that any active drug was more effective than placebo for people with intellectual disability demonstrating SIB. Due to sparse data, an absence of power and statistical significance, and high risk of bias for four of the included trials, we are unable to reach any definite conclusions about the relative benefits of naltrexone or clomipramine compared to placebo.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2013
Review Meta AnalysisSingle, double or multiple-injection techniques for non-ultrasound guided axillary brachial plexus block in adults undergoing surgery of the lower arm.
Regional anaesthesia comprising axillary block of the brachial plexus is a common anaesthetic technique for distal upper limb surgery. This is an update of a review first published in 2006 and updated in 2011. ⋯ This review provides evidence that multiple-injection techniques using nerve stimulation for axillary plexus block produce more effective anaesthesia than either double or single-injection techniques. However, there was insufficient evidence for a significant difference in other outcomes, including safety.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2013
Review Meta AnalysisAntibiotics for acute otitis media in children.
Acute otitis media (AOM) is one of the most common diseases in early infancy and childhood. Antibiotic use for AOM varies from 56% in the Netherlands to 95% in the USA, Canada and Australia. ⋯ Antibiotic treatment led to a statistically significant reduction of children with AOM experiencing pain at two to seven days compared with placebo but since most children (82%) settle spontaneously, about 20 children must be treated to prevent one suffering from ear pain at two to seven days. Additionally, antibiotic treatment led to a statistically significant reduction of tympanic membrane perforations (NNTB 33) and contralateral AOM episodes (NNTB 11). These benefits must be weighed against the possible harms: for every 14 children treated with antibiotics, one child experienced an adverse event (such as vomiting, diarrhoea or rash) that would not have occurred if antibiotics had been withheld. Antibiotics appear to be most useful in children under two years of age with bilateral AOM, or with both AOM and otorrhoea. For most other children with mild disease, an expectant observational approach seems justified. We have no trials in populations with higher risks of complications.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2013
Review Meta AnalysisCycled light in the intensive care unit for preterm and low birth weight infants.
The potential benefits and harms of different lighting in neonatal units have not been quantified. ⋯ Trials assessing the effect of CL have enrolled 506 infants. Trends for many outcomes favoured CL compared with ND and CL compared with CBL. The studies may have lacked significance due to a lack of statistical power. Future research should focus on comparing CL to ND.