The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews – Issue5 2011

The Cochrane Library is continuing to grow by about onenew review per day, with existing reviews being updated ata similar rate, summarising an ever increasing volume ofthe world’s clinical trials. In the fifth issue of the CochraneDatabase of Systematic Reviews, 27 Cochrane reviews appearin full for the first time and these include a total of more 300clinical trials with over 50,000 participants. Alongside thesenew reviews, 33 Cochrane reviews have been updated, withseven of these adding new evidence which has led to changesin their conclusions.

These new and updated reviews, along with morethan 4000 other full Cochrane reviews and the pro-tocols for a further 2000 are available in full atwww.TheCochraneLibrary.com. Each of these provides de-tailed information on the methods for the review. In thefull reviews, you will also find information about each ofthe included studies, their findings, the results of any meta-analyses done by the Cochrane researchers and their conclu-sions on the implications of their review for practice and forresearch.

Among the new reviews with large numbers of randomisedtrials is one examining the evidence on prophylactic corti-costeroids for cardiopulmonary bypass. It contains 54 trials,with 3615 patients (1). There are also new reviews of sele-nium for preventing cancer, which draws on evidence fromboth randomised trials and observational studies (2), andantiretroviral therapy for prevention of HIV transmission inHIV-discordant couples (3). Among the new reviews of treat-ments, topics such as the timing of surgery for premenopausalwomen with breast cancer (4), and acupuncture in traumaticbrain injury (5) are covered. Reviews of more complex in-terventions include school-based prevention programs foralcohol misuse in young people (6) and an overview of re-views of consumer-oriented interventions for evidence-basedprescribing and medicines use (7).

Short, audio podcasts are available free for some ofthese reviews. They can be listened to and shared atwww.cochrane.org/podcasts. The Cochrane Journal Clubprovides an opportunity to explore a Cochrane review inmore depth, through specially prepared free resources in-cluding a long summary of the review, slideshow, authorprofile, discussion points, and a collection of related articles.These are available at www.CochraneJournalClub.com, andrecent highlights focus on the Cochrane reviews of tranex-amic acid for acute traumatic injury (8), and ways to improvemobility after hip fracture surgery (9).

In the following section, the authors responsible for twoCochrane reviews tell us about their reviews, in their ownwords.

References

1. Dieleman JM, van Paassen J, van Dijk D, Arbous MSesmu,Kalkman CJ, Vandenbroucke JP, Van Der Heijden GJ,Dekkers OM. Prophylactic corticosteroids for cardiopulmonarybypass in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2011,Issue 5. Art. No.: CD005566. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD005566.pub3

2. Dennert G, Zwahlen M, Brinkman M, Vinceti M, Zeegers MP A,Horneber M. Selenium for preventing cancer. Cochrane Database

of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 5. Art. No.: CD005195. DOI:10.1002/14651858.CD005195.pub2

3. Anglemyer A, Rutherford GW, Egger M, Siegfried N.Antiretroviral therapy for prevention of HIV transmission inHIV-discordant couples. Cochrane Database of Systematic

Reviews 2011, Issue 5. Art. No.: CD009153. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009153

4. Samuel M, Wai KL, Brennan VK, Yong WS. Timing of breastsurgery in premenopausal breast cancer patients. Cochrane

Database of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 5. Art. No.:CD003720. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003720.pub2

5. Wong V, Cheuk DKL, Lee S, Chu V. Acupuncture for acutemanagement and rehabilitation of traumatic brain injury.Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 5. Art.No.: CD007700. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007700.pub2

6. Foxcroft DR, Tsertsvadze A. Universal school-based preventionprograms for alcohol misuse in young people. Cochrane

Database of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 5. Art. No.:CD009113. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009113

7. Ryan R, Santesso N, Hill S, Lowe D, Kaufman C, Grimshaw J.Consumer-oriented interventions for evidence-based prescribingand medicines use: an overview of systematic reviews. Cochrane

Database of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 5. Art. No.:CD007768. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007768.pub2

8. Roberts I, Shakur H, Ker K, Coats T. On behalf of theCRASH-2 Trial collaborators. Antifibrinolytic drugs for acutetraumatic injury. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2011,Issue 1. Art. No.: CD004896. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004896.pub3.

9. Handoll HHG, Sherrington C, Mak JCS. Interventions forimproving mobility after hip fracture surgery in adults. Cochrane

Database of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 3. Art. No.:CD001704. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001704.pub4.

140 JEBM 4 (2011) 140 c© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd and Chinese Cochrane Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University