Podcasts From The Cochrane Library

There are several Cochrane reviews of strategies and interventions to reduce falls, particularly in older people. In January 2024, we published a new review of population-based approaches for falls prevention, and, in this podcast, Chris Todd, talks to co-author Lisa McGarrigle, both from the University of Manchester in the UK about the findings.

There are several Cochrane reviews relevant to hip or knee replacement surgery, covering a variety of interventions. In this podcast, Parag Raval, a trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, talks with Naomi Gibbs from the Systematic Review Initiative at NHS Blood and Transplant in Oxford, UK, who is one of the authors of the January 2024 review looking at the best medication to stop bleeding in people having this surgery.

Ibuprofen is a widely used painkiller and a new Cochrane review from January 2024 brings together the evidence on its use for postoperative pain in children. In this podcast, two of the co-authors, Sara Pessano from Gaslini Children's Hospital in Genoa Italy, and Natasha Gloeck from the Health Systems Research Unit at the South African Medical Research Council, tell us about the findings.

There are more than 60 Cochrane Reviews relevant to multiple sclerosis and, one of these, a network meta-analysis of immunomodulators and immunosuppressants for relapsing‐remitting multiple sclerosis, was updated in January 2024. We asked the lead author, Francesco Nonino from the Institute of Neurological Science in Bologna, Italy, to tell us more about the condition and the latest evidence in this podcast.

Cochrane Incontinence has produced more than 40 Cochrane reviews of interventions that might help people suffering from incontinence. In this podcast, Roses Parker, Cochrane's Commissioning Editor talks with lead author of the review Emily Carter, a senior clinician and researcher in urogynaecology in the Manchester Foundation Trust in the UK about the October 2023 update of the review for single-incision slings, a type of surgery for stress urinary incontinence.

Digital interventions, or mHealth or eHealth interventions, are increasingly common in health care and it's important to evaluate their effects. With this in mind, a new Cochrane Review from February 2024 examines the evidence for smartphone interventions for adolescents and adults with overweight or obesity. In this podcast, Eva Madrid, from the University of Valparaíso in Chile, talks with lead author Maria-Inti Metzendorf, from the University of Düsseldorf, Germany, both of whom are currently on fellowships at the Iberoamerican Cochrane Center in Barcelona, Spain.

When someone has an acute ischemic stroke, urgent, effective, simple and reliable treatments will reduce their risks of disability or dying from their brain tissue damage. The treatments used vary around the world, and a drug called cerebrolysin and its analogues are widely used in post-Soviet countries, Eastern Europe, and Central and Southeast Asia. In October 2023, the latest update of the Cochrane review was published by researchers from Cochrane Russia based at the Russian Medical Academy of Continuing Professional Education and two of the authors, Dilyara Nurkhametova and Liliya Eugenevna Ziganshina, discuss it for this podcast.

The Cochrane Library contains many reviews relevant to the management of low back pain, one of the common health problems in the world. This includes reviews of what to look out for when someone presents with low back pain and the review of red flags that would highlight the need to screen for a spinal fracture was updated in August 2023. Here’s Chris Han from the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health and the University of Sydney in Australia to describe the latest findings.

We’re all probably familiar with physical first aid, but there is also something called mental health first aid and a new Cochrane review was published in August 2023, looking at the evidence on its effects. In this podcast, Roses Parker, Cochrane's Commissioning Editor, talks with two co-authors, Rachel Richardson who leads the Methods Support Unit in Cochrane and George Wellby who works as a psychiatric registrar in London, UK, about the review.

A variety of drugs are used for people with panic disorder and the effects of these were brought together in November 2023 in a Cochrane review and network meta-analysis by Giuseppe Guaiana from Western University in St Thomas Canada and a large group of international authors. Here's Giuseppe to tell us about the problem, and whether these drug treatments are helpful.

Taking over as the Cochrane Review with the most included studies when it was updated in November 2023, is the Cochrane Methodology Review of strategies to improve the response rates for postal and web questionnaires. Here's lead author, Phil Edwards from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK, to outline the importance of the review and its latest findings.

About one in ten live births around the world are preterm and many very preterm babies will develop respiratory distress soon after birth and require help with their breathing. Various strategies are available for this and an updated Cochrane review from July 2023 provides the latest evidence on the early use of nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation compared with nasal continuous positive airway pressure. We asked one of the authors, Marc-Olivier Deguise from the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Canada to tell us about the findings, and he used ElevenLabs to make this recording.

About one in ten live births around the world are preterm and many of these babies will develop respiratory distress and require help with their breathing. Various strategies are available for this and an updated Cochrane review from July 2023 provides the latest evidence on the comparison of nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation versus nasal continuous positive airway pressure when a baby’s breathing tube is removed. We asked one of the authors, Marc-Olivier Deguise from the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Canada to tell us about the findings, and he used ElevenLabs to make this recording.

Alongside the many thousands of Cochrane reviews of the effects of health care interventions, is a review of decision aids that might help people make decisions about treatment or screening. This was first published in January 2003 and the fifth update has been published 21 years later. Here's the current lead author, Dawn Stacey from the University of Ottawa and Ottawa Hospital Research Institute in Canada, who's been working on the review for all that time to tell us about the need for the review and its latest findings.

Before its closure in 2023, the Cochrane Injuries Group worked on more than 150 reviews and one of these, on interventions to encourage the use of seat belts was published in January 2024. Here's the lead author, Andrit Lourens from the Namibia University of Science and Technology to tell us about the findings.

Cochrane has produced more than a dozen systematic reviews of the effects of interventions that might help children who have chronic pain and their parents. In October 2023, these were added to with a review of qualitative research that had explored the experiences and views of children and their families about chronic non-cancer pain and pain services and treatments. In this podcast, Roses Parker, Cochrane's Commissioning Editor, talks with lead author Emma France, an associate professor in health research at the University of Stirling in the UK, about the review and its findings.

Among the nearly 100 reviews produced by the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group, their review of the use of electronic cigarettes in smoking cessation is now being managed as a living systematic review, with monthly searches to keep an eye on the evidence base, so that the published review can be refreshed as necessary. The review was re-badged as a living review in 2021 and its fourth update in this format was published in January 2024. Here's one of the authors, Ailsa Butler from the University of Oxford in the UK to summarise the latest findings.

In a world searching for medications to reverse or halt the progression of dementia, psychosocial approaches can be overlooked but remain a key part of the support offered to help people live as well as they can with the condition. These approaches include cognitive rehabilitation, and in June 2023, we published a new Cochrane review of its effects. Here's lead author, Aleksandra Kudlicka from the University of Exeter in the UK, to explain the therapy and summarize the review findings.

The Cochrane Neonatal Group works on producing and updating Cochrane Reviews to provide comprehensive data based on the latest evidence about the care of babies and infants. In December 2023, they added to their more than 450 reviews with one on the position used to perform spinal taps. Here are two co-authors of the review, Marcus Glenton Prescott from St. Olav’s Hospital, Trondheim in Norway and Sara Pessano from Gaslini Children's Hospital in Genoa Italy, to tell us about the findings.

Alongside the many Cochrane reviews of pharmacological treatments are some that look at how to ensure that these treatments are used appropriately. The third update of one of these, for polypharmacy in older people, was published in October 2023. Here's the new first author, Judith Cole from the Clinical Trials Service Unit at the University of Oxford in the UK to tell us more.