This Spotlight Blog relates to the following article in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine: “Maternal Caffeine Consumption and Pregnancy Outcomes: A Narrative Review with Implications for Advice to Mothers and Mothers-To-Be” (ID No.: bmjebm-2020-111432.R2) Blog entry written on: ‘Maternal Caffeine Consumption and Pregnancy Outcomes: A Narrative Review with Implications for Advice to Mothers and Mothers-To-Be’ (bmjebm-2020-111406), with […]
Category: EBM
Instructions for the day of your surgery: “Please create a playlist of your favourite music”
Blog entry written on: Heterogeneity of Outcomes for Intraoperative Music Interventions: A Scoping Review and Evidence Map (bmjebm-2020-111382) Authors: Melanie Ambler, Stacey Springs, Dioscaris Garcia, Christopher Born We know that 87% of operating room staff report listening to music in the OR, but an emerging body of evidence suggests that listening to music during surgical […]
Can an antibiotic make you pregnant?
Blog entry written on: Analysis of reports of unintended pregnancies associated with the combined use of non-enzyme-inducing antibiotics and hormonal contraceptives (bmjebm-2020-111363) Authors: Jeffrey K Aronson & Robin E Ferner The British National Formulary (BNF) currently advises women to continue with their usual oral contraception when they start an antibiotic (except for enzyme inducers, e.g. […]
Honey for coughs and colds: not too shab-bee
Blog entry written on: Effectiveness of honey for symptomatic relief in upper respiratory tract infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis (bmjebm-2020-111336) Author: Hibatullah Abuelgasim Honey is a folklore favourite when it comes to cough and cold remedies. Everyone who has ever had a cold knows how annoying the symptoms can be. Unfortunately, there’s not much […]
The Dangers of Selective Analysis: Has stroke treatment been misguided for a decade?
Alteplase is widely recommended for treatment of stroke occurring within 3-4.5 hours. Brian Alper discusses their recent publication that reanalysed the Third European Cooperative Acute Stroke Study (ECASS III) trial through adjustment for baseline imbalances. Blog entry written on: Thrombolysis with alteplase 3–4.5 hours after acute ischaemic stroke: trial reanalysis adjusted for baseline imbalances (bmjebm-2020-111386) […]
How are you managing hip fracture patients on DOACs?
In an attempt to end the dilemma surrounding the management of hip fracture patients on direct oral anticoagulants, Sheweidin Aziz, Krishan Almeida, and Grahame Taylor share the highlights of their recent publication. Blog entry written on: How should we manage hip fracture patients on direct oral anticoagulants? (bmjebm-2019-111317) Authors: Sheweidin Aziz, Krishnan Almeida, and Grahame […]
Shining a spotlight on the policies of pain journals
Journals are key stakeholders in the quest for greater transparency and reproducibility of research. Georgia Richards, Aidan Cashin, Matthew Bagg, Elaine Toomey, James McAuley and Hopin Lee discuss their recent publication that evaluates the policies and standards of pain journals. Blog entry written on: Limited engagement with transparent and open science standards in the policies […]
EBM Roundup – Devices and Facebook vaccines
In the second of our EBM round-ups, Carl Heneghan, Helen Macdonald and Duncan Jarvies are joined by Deborah Cohen, investigative journalist and scourge of device manufacturers. We’re giving our verdict on the sensitivity and specificity of ketone testing for hyperemesis, and the advice to drinking more water to prevent recurrent UTIs in women. Deb […]
Clinical Trials transparency is failing – here’s why
‘the current system is failing, and awareness isn’t ‘variable’, it is wholly inappropriate and unethical.’ Carl Heneghan The UK’s House of Commons Science and Technology Committee released its report on clinical trials transparency last week and it makes for a sorry read. Clinical trials transparency means ensuring clinical trials are recorded in a publicly-accessible […]
Five reasons why diagnostic studies fail
The number of studies assessing the diagnostic accuracy of tests is growing rapidly, but many studies fail to impact on practice due to five fundamental flaws in their methods. Jack O’Sullivan Diagnostic accuracy studies aim to determine how good a new test is at diagnosing a disease compared with a current test. To do this, […]