Helge Hasselmann reports on a new Cochrane systematic review of interventions for enhancing medication adherence, which finds insufficient evidence to draw any conclusions. The full health benefits of medicines will not be realised until better interventions and better studies are conducted in this area.
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Ioana Cristea reviews a recent Cochrane systematic review on non-pharmacological interventions for medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS). The review finds that psychotherapies for MUPS led to reduced symptom severity, but were associated with a higher drop-out rate than usual care.
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Eight RCTs were summarised in this review suggesting that regular patient motivation sessions and cleaning by a hygienist helped maintain good oral hygiene. No quantitative summaries was conducted so the magnitude of the benefit is unclear.
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This systematic review examines the effectiveness of manual therapy and exercise on adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder) a common cause of shoulder pain and stiffness.
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This Cochrane review included 14 trials of variable quality that could not be combined due to variation in local anaesthetic delivery and outcome measures. So the results from individual studies for pain, bleeding and other adverse effects are uncertain.
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This Cochrane review authored by the MSK Elf examines the effectiveness of exercise interventions in preventing bone loss and fractures in postmenopausal women.
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This new update of a Cochrane review only identified 1 study that randomised 174 children but analysed only 63. While there was a reduction in caries in those children with the slow-release fluoride glass bead the study is at high risk of bias and provides insufficient evidence to determine the caries-inhibiting effect of slow-release fluoride glass beads.
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Taste disorders can have a impact of health and quality of life. This new Cochrane review identified 9 trials (566 participants) and found some evidence that zinc supplements could improve taste perception in people with idiopathic taste disorders. However the evidence is not of high quality.
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For his ninth Mental Elf blog, Mark Smith reports on a Cochrane systematic review of the effectiveness of short term psychodynamic therapies on common mental health disorders.
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John Baker summarises a recent Cochrane systematic review of cultural competence education for health professionals, which tentatively concludes that low quality evidence supports this approach.
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