The Cochrane Library

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The Cochrane Library
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What is The Cochrane Library? How do you know if
one healthcare intervention works better than
another, or if it will do more harm than good?
Information about health is everywhere, but how
can health professionals and consumers make sense
of all the research going on around the world?
Health care in the 21st Century relies not only
on individual medical skills, but also on the
best information on the effectiveness of each
intervention being accessible to practitioners,
patients, and policy makers. This approach is
known as evidence-based medicine.
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What is The Cochrane Library?
The Cochrane Library is the single most reliable
source for evidence on the effects of health
care. The Cochrane Library brings together in
one place research on the effectiveness of
healthcare treatments and interventions. It is
the gold standard in evidence-based medicine and
provides access to the most objective information
on the latest in medical treatment.
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The Cochrane Library provides information and
evidence to support decisions taken in health
care and to inform those receiving care.
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The Cochrane Library incorporates not only
hundreds of medical conditions but also diverse
topics such as injury prevention, alternative
remedies, and natural treatments to alleviate ill
health.
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Who produces The Cochrane Library? Wiley-Blackwell
publishes The Cochrane Library for The Cochrane
Collaboration an international notforprofit
organization, providing uptodate information
about the effects of health care. It aims to help
people make well-informed decisions about health
care by preparing, maintaining and promoting the
accessibility of systematic reviews on the
effects of healthcare interventions.
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• The Cochrane Collaboration
• Structure - established as an international
  organisation in 1993, registered as a charity in
  the U.K.
• Aim - to help people make well-informed decisions
  about health care.
• How - by preparing and promoting access to
  systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare
  interventions.
• Publishing Output The Cochrane Library

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• What is in The Cochrane Library?
• Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Cochrane
  Reviews)
• Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects
  (Other Reviews)
• Central Register of Controlled Trials (Clinical
  Trials)
• Cochrane Methodology Register (Methods Studies)
• Health Technology Assessment Database (Technology
  Assessments)
• NHS Economic Evaluation Database (Economic
  Evaluations)

It also contains information about The Cochrane
Collaboration and The Cochrane Collaborative
Review Groups
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The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

• Cochrane Systematic Reviews investigate the
  effects of interventions for prevention,
  treatment and rehabilitation in a healthcare
  setting.
• They are designed to facilitate the choices that
  doctors, patients, policy makers, and others face
  in health care.
• Each review addresses a clearly formulated
  question for example can antibiotics help in
  alleviating the symptoms of a sore throat?
• The research is reviewed using stringent
  guidelines to establish whether or not there is
  conclusive evidence about a specific treatment.

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The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Also includes Methodology reviews and
protocols Full-text Reviews that examine the
benefit of methodological studies e.g. Does
editorial peer-review improve the quality of
reports of biomedical studies?
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The impact of Cochrane Reviews The Cochrane
Library is used by a broad range of people
interested in evidence-based health care,
including consumers, clinicians, policy makers,
researchers, educators, students and others.
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Each of these groups uses information in
different ways, according to their different
purposes. As Cochrane reviews have become known
internationally as a source of high quality,
reliable health information, many have also begun
to interpret, adapt and disseminate Cochrane
Reviews and information derived from them

• Clinical guidelines and health technology
  assessment organisations
• Electronic databases
• Journals
• Health related websites

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The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Why are Cochrane Reviews so important? Cochrane
Reviews are conducted to the highest standard of
methodological quality. They have been found to
be of comparable or better quality and are
updated more frequently than reviews published in
print journals.1 1 Source Jadad AR, Cook DJ,
Jones A, Klassen TP, Tugwell P, Moher M, Moher D.
Methodology and reports of systematic reviews and
meta-analyses a comparison of Cochrane reviews
with articles published in paper-based journals.
JAMA 1998280278-280.
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The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
How large is The Cochrane Reviews database? It
comprises over 3464 complete reviews and 1856
protocols (Reviews in progress) in html PDF
format How often is the database updated? All
Reviews are regularly updated with the latest
evidence and the database is updated and
expanded every 3 months
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The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
What is different about Cochrane Systematic
Reviews? Cochrane reviews address clearly
formulated questions such as does fluoride help
prevent tooth decay in children or can
antibiotics help in alleviating the symptoms of a
sore throat. Comprehensive and explicit methods
are used to track down, select and determine the
quality of relevant research. This includes
searches for unpublished and non-English records
to provide as complete a picture as possible to
try to answer the question considered.
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The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Cochrane Reviews are know as the gold standard
for systematic reviews in such key publications
as The Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine,
British Medical Journal, and the Journal of the
American Medical Association and routinely appear
there as well as in specialised medical journals
for various specialty areas.
Source Chart by Paul Glasziou
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Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects
Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects
(Other Reviews). Complements the Cochrane Reviews
by quality-assessing and summarising reviews
which have not been carried out by The Cochrane
Collaboration. DARE is unique in that it is the
only database to contain abstracts of systematic
reviews that have been quality assessed. Each
abstract includes a summary of the review
together with a critical commentary about the
overall quality. Produced by the CRD in York.
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Central Register of Controlled Trials
Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials
(Clinical Trials). Includes details of published
articles taken from bibliographic databases and
other published resources. CENTRAL records
include the title of the article, information on
where it was published and, in many cases, the
abstract.
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Cochrane Methodology Register
The Cochrane Methodology Register (Method
Studies). Presents a bibliography of publications
that report on methods used when conducting
controlled trials. It includes journals articles,
books and conference proceedings. Articles are
taken from MEDLINE and from hand searches.
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Health Technology Assessment Database
Health Technology Assessment Database
(Technology Assessments). Brings together details
of completed and ongoing health technology
assessments (studies of the medical, social,
ethical and economic implications of healthcare
interventions) from around the world. The aim of
the database is to improve the quality and cost
effectiveness of health care. Produced by the CRD
in York.
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The NHS Economic Evaluation Database
The NHS Economic Evaluation Database (Economic
Evaluations). As healthcare resources are finite,
information about costs and effects are essential
to making evidence-based decisions about
competing healthcare interventions. Information
about cost-effectiveness can be difficult to
identify, appraise and interpret. NHS EED assists
decision-makers by systematically identifying
economic evaluations from around the world,
appraising their quality and highlighting their
relative strengths and weaknesses. Produced by
the CRD in York.
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The Cochrane Library has many features that make
finding the information you are after fast and
accurate
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An Advanced Search of The Cochrane Library
searching for all text schizo, drugs, atypical
and antipsychotic. in All Fields in The Cochrane
Database of Systematic Reviews"
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Returns the following results
You can toggle between results listed for the
different databases in The Cochrane Library here
Use these links to restrict your search results
to Reviews only, or Protocols (reviews in
progress) only.
Save or edit your search using these links.
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MeSH (Medical Subjects Heading Search)
Let us look at an example MeSH search
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MeSH (Medical Subjects Heading Search)
Use the Thesaurus to search for MeSH descriptors
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MeSH (Medical Subjects Heading Search)
Or use qualifiers.
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Search History
Select Search History to combine searches, enter
their number together with Boolean operator of
choice (AND, OR, NOT).
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Search History
Combine searches by entering their number
together with Boolean operator of choice (AND,
OR, NOT).
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(No Transcript)
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Search History
Your combined search will then appear in your
Search History.
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CHANGES TO THE COCHRANE LIBRARY

• COCHRANE REVIEWS - improved STATUS FLAGS

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New sections in Cochrane Reviews
Author Affiliations and Contact details
This information appears at the top of the review.
Explicit Review Status dates displayed here
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WHATS NEW? SECTION
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NEW RISK OF BIAS TABLE
Review authors have the option to include a risk
of bias table as an extension of the
characteristics of included studies table
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NEW RISK OF BIAS TABLE
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APPENDICES
This new section will feature additional
information and documents, where relevant.
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Features of The Cochrane Library on Wiley
InterScience

• Links to MEDLINE Abstracts and ISI Web of
  Science
• Easy navigation from a reference in a review to
  the cited journal article
• Wiley InterScience alerting services based on
  keywords, authors and other parameters
• Links from many CENTRAL records to the
  corresponding record in PubMed

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Who USES the Cochrane Library?

• Health Professionals at all levels, Health
  Researchers, Health Policy Makers, Care Givers
  and patients.

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The 20 Most Viewed Reviews from The Cochrane
Library in 2007

• What is on the worlds health agenda?
• Health or ill-health is a common concern of the
  6.7 billion individuals on the planet.
• With over half the worlds consumers and health
  professionals having free or institution/governmen
  t funded access to Cochrane Evidence around the
  world, a list of the top 20 most accessed
  Cochrane Reviews gives a view of the most common
  ailments and the interventions we are seeking.

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The 20 Most Viewed Reviews from The Cochrane
Library in 2007

• The list of the top 20 globally accessed Cochrane
  Systematic Reviews and the evidence for or
  against specific healthcare interventions extends
  far beyond drugs, and includes some big questions
  facing many countries whether it is caring for
  an ageing population or preventing obesity in
  children.

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The 20 Most Viewed Reviews from The Cochrane
Library in 2007

• 1. Interventions for preventing falls in elderly
  people
• 2. Interventions for preventing obesity in
  children
• 3. Beta-blockers for hypertension
• 4. Low glycaemic index or low glycaemic load
  diets for overweight and obesity
• 5. Nicotine receptor partial agonists for smoking
  cessation
• 6. Support surfaces for pressure ulcer prevention
• 7. Interventions to improve hand hygiene
  compliance in patient care
• 8. Vitamin C for preventing and treating the
  common cold
• 9. Rosiglitazone for type 2 diabetes mellitus
• 10. Exercise therapy for treatment of
  non-specific low back pain
• 11. Interventions for enhancing medication
  adherence
• 12. Physiotherapy treatment approaches for the
  recovery of postural control and lower limb
  function following stroke
• 13. Physiotherapy interventions for shoulder pain
• 14. Exercise for overweight or obesity
• 15. Screening for breast cancer with mammography
• 16. Nicotine replacement therapy for smoking
  cessation
• 17. Early skin-to-skin contact for mothers and
  their healthy newborn infants
• 18. Continuous support for women during
  childbirth

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Usage of The Cochrane Library is increasing
Half the world population now have access to The
Cochrane Library
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Talk to us today about The Cochrane Library