Systematic reviews
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Pregabalin is used in the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia, diabetic neuropathic pain, partial seizures, anxiety disorders and fibromyalgia. Recognized adverse effects associated with its use include cognitive impairment, somnolence and dizziness. Heart failure associated with pregabalin has been described, however the strength of this association has not been well characterized. To examine this further, we will conduct a systematic review of the risk of heart failure and edema associated with use of pregabalin. ⋯ The results of this review will assist physicians to better appreciate pregabalin's risk for edema or congestive heart failure and will be pertinent to the thousands of patients worldwide who are administered this medication.Our protocol was registered in the PROSPERO database (CRD42012002948).
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Diagnosis of early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) followed by curative resection or liver transplantation offers the best chance for long-term patient survival. Clinically, ultrasonography has suboptimal sensitivity for detecting early-stage HCC. Several serological tests including alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), the ratio of lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive alpha-fetoprotein to total AFP (AFP-L3/AFP), des-gamma carboxyprothrombin (DCP), and glypican-3 (GPC-3) have been widely investigated as diagnostic biomarkers for early-stage HCC in at-risk populations. However, these tests are not recommended for routine HCC screening. Our objective is to determine the diagnostic performance of AFP, AFP-L3/AFP, DCP, and GPC-3 for the detection of HCC, particularly early-stage tumors meeting the Milan criteria. ⋯ Our systematic review will allow patients, clinicians, and researchers to determine the diagnostic performance of AFP, AFP-L3/AFP, DCP, and GPC-3 for the detection of early-stage HCC and the potential roles of these diagnostic biomarkers in the existing diagnostic pathways.Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO 2013; CRD42013003879.
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Review Meta Analysis
Systematic review and network meta-analysis of interventions for fibromyalgia: a protocol.
Fibromyalgia is associated with substantial socioeconomic loss and, despite considerable research including numerous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and systematic reviews, there exists uncertainty regarding what treatments are effective. No review has evaluated all interventional studies for fibromyalgia, which limits attempts to make inferences regarding the relative effectiveness of treatments. ⋯ Our review will be the first to evaluate all treatments for fibromyalgia, provide relative effectiveness of treatments, and prioritize patient-important outcomes with a focus on functional gains. Our review will facilitate evidence-based management of patients with fibromyalgia, identify key areas for future research, and provide a framework for conducting large systematic reviews involving indirect comparisons.
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Systematic reviewers may encounter a multiplicity of outcome data in the reports of randomised controlled trials included in the review (for example, multiple measurement instruments measuring the same outcome, multiple time points, and final and change from baseline values). The primary objectives of this study are to investigate in a cohort of systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials of interventions for rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, depressive disorders and anxiety disorders: (i) how often there is multiplicity of outcome data in trial reports; (ii) the association between selection of trial outcome data included in a meta-analysis and the magnitude and statistical significance of the trial result, and; (iii) the impact of the selection of outcome data on meta-analytic results. ⋯ The strengths of this empirical study are that our objectives and methods are pre-specified and transparent. The results may inform methods guidance for systematic review conduct and reporting, particularly for dealing with multiplicity of randomised controlled trial outcome data.
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Meta Analysis
Improving quality of care for persons with diabetes: an overview of systematic reviews - what does the evidence tell us?
Ensuring high quality care for persons with diabetes remains a challenge for healthcare systems globally with consistent evidence of suboptimal care and outcomes. There is increasing interest in quality improvement strategies to improve diabetes management as reflected by a growing number of systematic reviews. These reviews are of varying quality and dispersed across many sources. In this paper, we present an overview of systematic reviews evaluating the impact of interventions to improve the quality of diabetes care. ⋯ There is consistent evidence from high quality systematic reviews that patient education and support, provider role changes, and telemedicine are associated with improvements in glycaemic and vascular risk factor control in patients. There is less evidence about the impact of quality improvement interventions on other key process measures such as screening patients for diabetic complications. This paper provides decision makers with a comprehensive overview of evidence from high quality systematic reviews about the effects of quality improvement interventions on improving diabetes care.