Podcasts From The Cochrane Library

Some Cochrane Reviews cut across more than one Cochrane Group. This is the case with the September 2024 update of the review of interventions for malaria and HIV in pregnancy. Here are two of the authors, Clara Pons-Duran and Raquel González from Barcelona University in Spain to tell us about the importance of the review and its findings.

Ankle fractures are one of the most common fractures of the lower limb and it’s important to have evidence on how to help people recover from them. There’s been a Cochrane Review of this since 2008 and the most recent update was published in September 2024. In this podcast, Sophie Degraeve from Symmetron, talks with new author, Chris Bretherton from the Blizard Institute at Queen Mary University of London in the UK, about the latest findings.

Several Cochrane Reviews look at interventions for palliative care. These were added to in September 2024 with the publication of a new review of psychedelic-assisted therapy. In this podcast, two of the authors, Sivan Schipper from Spital Uster and Christopher Boehlke from University Hospital Basel both in Switzerland, tell us about the treatment and the review’s findings.

The hundreds of reviews from the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group include several of vitamin supplementation during pregnancy. One of these looks at Vitamin D and its third update was published in July 2024. We asked one of the authors, Lia Kostiuk, a board-certified Preventive Medicine physician in the USA to tell us about the latest findings in this podcast.

Many wearers of contact lenses use lubricating drops to ease the discomfort they feel with the lens, but how effective are these drops? Here’s lead author of the September 2024 Cochrane review, Barbara Caffery from Toronto Eye Care in Canada, to tell us about the evidence.

The Cochrane Neonatal Group produces and updates Cochrane Reviews to provide comprehensive coverage of the evidence on the care of babies and infants. In this podcast, we present an important topic in neonatal care: the management of pain and discomfort during spinal taps in newborns, for which a new Cochrane review was published in September 2023. In this podcast, two of the authors talk about the findings. Ehsan Hedayati and Sara Pessano, welcome to the podcast.

The Cochrane Skin group has produced more than 100 reviews. These were added to in August 2024 by a new network meta-analysis of topical anti-inflammatory treatments for eczema. We asked lead author, Robert Boyle from Imperial College London in the UK to tell us about the condition and the findings of his review in this podcast.

Mobile phones feature widely in the delivery of health care, and they are also used informally by people delivering this care. This is explored in an August 2024 Cochrane qualitative evidence synthesis of healthcare workers’ use of their own phones at work. In this podcast, two of the authors, Nelson Sewankambo from Makerere University in Uganda and Claire Glenton from the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences talk about why they did the review and its findings.

In this podcast, review author Jan Verbakel talks with first author Liselore De Rop, a PhD candidate of the KU Leuven in Belgium who is involved in COVID-19 research, about their August 2024 review of the accuracy of routine laboratory tests to predict mortality and deterioration for patients with severe or critical COVID-19.

There are many Cochrane Reviews about the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis and those involved in managing this condition also need to know about its prognosis, especially in the presence of other illnesses. We can now help them in regard to diabetes and tuberculosis, with a new review published in August 2024. Here are two of the authors, Juan Franco and Yang Guo from the Institute of General Practice, Medical Faculty of the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf in Germany, to tell us more.

Among the 20 or so Cochrane reviews of treatments for myocardial infarction is one that reached its third update in August 2024. It looks at the effects of stem cells, and we asked new lead author, Peter-Paul Zwetsloot from University Medical Centre Utrecht in the Netherlands to tell us about the importance of the review and the latest findings.

The Cochrane Library contains several reviews on the effects of different ways of organising and delivering medical care. One of these reviews, published in March 2024, summarises the evidence on models for delivering medical care to older adults living in residential aged care facilities. In this podcast, Liesl Grobler talks with lead author, Polina Putrik, both from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, about the review.

Recent developments in treatment for cystic fibrosis have targeted the underlying genetic defect and these have been life-changing for some patients. Kevin Southern from Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in the UK is an Editor for the Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis Group and an author of the updated review of these corrective therapies, which was published in November 2023. Here he is to tell us about the review.

Cochrane has produced several systematic reviews that assess the potential benefits and harms of medicine that might help to prevent bone loss in people with breast cancer. In this podcast, Claire Iannizzi talks with lead author Anne Adams, both from the University Hospital Cologne in Germany, about a review of different bone-modifying agents for reducing bone loss in women with non-metastatic breast cancer, which was published for the first time in July 2024.

The topics for some Cochrane Reviews cut across multiple Review Groups. This is the case with an April 2024 review of interventions to stop or reduce alcohol consumption during pregnancy, which is relevant to both Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth and Drugs and Alcohol. Here’s one of the authors, Julia Sinclair from the University of Southampton in the UK to tell us more.

Some Cochrane Reviews include network meta-analyses to bring together a range of comparisons to help identify the relative effects of different interventions and to rank them based on effectiveness. In June 2024, we published one of these, examining cardioversion for atrial arrhythmias. In this podcast, one of the authors Rui Providencia (left) interviews the first author, Kishore Kukendra‐Rajah (right) both from Barts Health NHS Trust in London in the UK.

People with cystic fibrosis are particularly prone to chest infections caused by bacteria that are hard to treat, but one possible treatment is a class of antibiotic known as the macrolides. There’s been a Cochrane Review of this since 2003 and the fourth update was published in February 2024. Here's Kevin Southern from Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in the UK, who is one of its authors and an Editor for the Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis Group, to tell us more.

There are several Cochrane Reviews of the effects of physical activity and these were added to in June 2024 with a qualitative evidence synthesis of factors that influence it for people with bipolar disorder. We asked one of the authors, Gavin Breslin, from Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland to tell us more about the condition and the review in this podcast.

There are many Cochrane Reviews relevant to the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis. These were added to in June 2024 by a new review of prognosis, specifically to look at the impact of undernutrition. Here are two of the authors, Juan Franco and Brenda Bongaerts from the Institute of General Practice, Medical Faculty of the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf in Germany, to tell us more.

The Cochrane Back and Neck Group have produced approximately 100 Cochrane reviews, covering the effects of interventions and the accuracy of diagnostic tests. One of these, relevant to the detection of spinal injury in children, was updated in March 2024. We asked lead author, Emma Tavender from Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne Australia to tell us about the latest findings in this podcast.