The Cochrane Rapid Review Methods Group (RRMG) first released interim guidance in March 2020 to support authors in conducting rapid reviews (RRs). The objective of this mixed‐methods study was to assess the adherence and investigate... more
The Cochrane Rapid Review Methods Group (RRMG) first released interim guidance in March 2020 to support authors in conducting rapid reviews (RRs). The objective of this mixed‐methods study was to assess the adherence and investigate authors' understanding of the RRMG guidance. We identified all documents citing the Interim Cochrane RRMG guidance up to February 17, 2022 and performed an exploratory adherence analysis. We interviewed 20 RR authors to assess the recommendations' comprehensibility and reasons for any deviations. Further, we surveyed nine authors of COVID‐19‐related Cochrane reviews for their reasons for not conducting a RR. We analyzed 128 RRs (111 non‐Cochrane, 17 Cochrane) that cited the RRMG guidance. Several recommendations were not followed by a large proportion of RR authors such as stepwise approach to study design inclusion or peer review of search strategies, whereas others were exceeded, for example, dual independent screening of abstracts/full texts. The most reported reasons for deviating from the guidance were time constraints, unclarities in the recommended approach, or inapplicability to the specific RR. Overall, the guidance was viewed as user‐friendly; however, without pre‐existing knowledge of systematic review (SR) conduct, the application was perceived as difficult. The main reasons for conducting a full SR over a RR were late availability of the guidance, preset mandate to conduct a SR, uncertainty regarding methodological distinctions between SR and RR, and inapplicability to the evidence base. Clarifications are warranted throughout the Interim Cochrane RRMG guidance to ensure that users with various experience levels can understand and apply its recommendations accordingly.
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Search Strategy. (DOCX 21 kb)
Study characteristics and summary of results for NCD risk factors. (DOCX 27 kb)
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Study characteristics and summary of results for incidence or prevalence of NCDs. (DOCX 47 kb)
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Additional file 2. Supplementary tables
Additional file 1. Search strategies
Hintergrund/Fragestellung: Entscheidungen im Public Health Bereich sollen auf Basis der besten Evidenz getroffen werden. Gute Kommunikation zwischen Stakeholdern ist ein förderlicher Faktor für den Einbezug von Evidenz bei Entscheidungen.... more
Hintergrund/Fragestellung: Entscheidungen im Public Health Bereich sollen auf Basis der besten Evidenz getroffen werden. Gute Kommunikation zwischen Stakeholdern ist ein förderlicher Faktor für den Einbezug von Evidenz bei Entscheidungen. Es ist aber wahrscheinlich, dass Stakeholder aus[zum vollständigen Text gelangen Sie über die oben angegebene URL]
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The revised summary format applied to the Cochrane review on 'Portion, package or tableware size for changing selection and consumption of food, alcohol and tobacco' (in English). (DOCX 122 kb)
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The interview guide as used in the user testing (in German). (DOCX 48Â kb)
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Background Children often do not drink enough water. Consumption of water is associated with several health benefits, including prevention of overweight and reduction of dental caries. Drinking water can also improve children's... more
Background Children often do not drink enough water. Consumption of water is associated with several health benefits, including prevention of overweight and reduction of dental caries. Drinking water can also improve children's attention and memory and sufficient water intake is important especially during the school day. A pilot programme to increase the tap water consumption of elementary school children started in 2018 - the “H2NOE Water Schools” in Lower Austria programme. The intervention schools received a free water bottle for each child, an information workshop for teachers and teaching materials. Methods In an intervention study with a control group in a before-and-after design we examined whether the “H2NOE water school” can lead to a change in the drinking behaviour of the pupils. All children of the 3rd grade in the 22 intervention schools (IG) and 32 control schools (CG) were surveyed using a paper-pencil questionnaire in autumn 2018 and in June 2019. We used multi-...
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Objectives: To investigate the reach and impact of “Infomails”, email summaries of Cochrane reviews in German, regularly disseminated by Cochrane Public Health Europe (CPHE) to stakeholders in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.Methods: We... more
Objectives: To investigate the reach and impact of “Infomails”, email summaries of Cochrane reviews in German, regularly disseminated by Cochrane Public Health Europe (CPHE) to stakeholders in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.Methods: We analysed email campaign reports from 15 Infomails delivered until November 2020. Furthermore, we invited all previous Infomail recipients to participate in an online survey on the impact and perceptions regarding our Infomails in November 2020. We analysed the results using descriptive statistics.Results: The Infomails’ open rate ranged from 10.9% to 39.3% (median 26.0%), and the median click rate on the embedded links was 28.0% (range 8.6–53.8%), highest for nutrition and prevention topics. Out of 1259 recipients, 267 (21.2%) completed our survey. Infomails were most used in discussions, writing reports or statements, for policy or strategy development or programme or guideline development. Persons who remembered receiving Infomails rated them as u...
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Despite the increased availability of strong analgesics and evidence-based recommendations for pain management, under-treatment of cancer-related pain is still common. Extended-release (ER) opioids, in contrast to immediate-release... more
Despite the increased availability of strong analgesics and evidence-based recommendations for pain management, under-treatment of cancer-related pain is still common. Extended-release (ER) opioids, in contrast to immediate-release opioids, provide prolonged analgesia. In this review, we aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of ER opioid analgesics in managing moderate-to-severe pain in patients with cancer. We identified randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and controlled observational studies that compared ER opioids in cancer pain by searching several databases, including MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library. Two independent reviewers screened and evaluated retrieved records to select relevant studies. We dually assessed the risk of bias for included studies and evaluated the overall strength of evidence for six critical outcomes using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation level of evidence. A total of three double-blind RCTs (comparative efficacy and adverse events), two non-blinded RCTs and four observational studies (comparative adverse events) were included in this review. All randomized trials and one observational study were of high risk of bias, and three observational studies of unclear risk of bias. The level of evidence for the selected efficacy and safety outcomes was low and very low. We synthesized the findings qualitatively because of the paucity of relevant studies as well as variable study design and quality. This systematic review indicates no substantial differences in efficacy and frequent adverse events among ER opioids for cancer pain. The body of evidence, however, is limited to few comparisons and fraught with methodological shortcomings.
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Evidenzbasierung stellt auch im öffentlichen Gesundheitswesen eine zentrale Anforderung dar. 5 allgemeine Prinzipien gelten in der evidenzbasierten Medizin wie in der evidenzbasierten Public Health (EBPH). Sie umfassen Systematik,... more
Evidenzbasierung stellt auch im öffentlichen Gesundheitswesen eine zentrale Anforderung dar. 5 allgemeine Prinzipien gelten in der evidenzbasierten Medizin wie in der evidenzbasierten Public Health (EBPH). Sie umfassen Systematik, Transparenz im Umgang mit Unsicherheit, Integration und Partizipation, Umgang mit Interessenkonflikten sowie einen strukturierten, reflektierten Prozess. Dieser Artikel hat das Ziel, ein gemeinsames Verständnis von evidenzbasierter Public Health zu fördern. Mit einer systematischen Literaturrecherche zu Perspektiven der Evidenzbasierung in Public Health wurde das internationale Verständnis von EBPH beleuchtet. So wurden 20 englischsprachige und eine deutschsprachige Quelle identifiziert und einer Inhaltsanalyse unterzogen. Über die allgemeinen Prinzipien hinausgehende Charakteristika dieser Perspektiven befassen sich mit Aspekten der Bevölkerungsorientierung, dem zugrunde liegenden Verständnis von Evidenz, zu beteiligenden Disziplinen und Interessengruppen...
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Preprint articles are preliminary scientific manuscripts or reports that have not been peer-reviewed yet. The aim of this study is to describe study characteristics of preprint articles and to assess how results and conclusions change in... more
Preprint articles are preliminary scientific manuscripts or reports that have not been peer-reviewed yet. The aim of this study is to describe study characteristics of preprint articles and to assess how results and conclusions change in relation to the corresponding peer-reviewed article. As the use of preprints in prevention research has been overlooked so far, we aim to investigate how different fields of prevention preprints, for example immunizations, counselling, screening or chemoprevention, compare with each other. We furthermore aim to describe the proportion of preprint articles that remain unpublished, and assess the risk of bias of preprint articles and compare them to published scientific articles in the field of prevention research.
This is a study protocol for a rapid scoping review on the effect of different models of school health services.
Zielsetzung: Im folgenden Workshop wird das Konzept Rapid Review (RR) als mögliches Tool zur schnellen Evidenzsynthese vorgestellt. Dabei wird auf die unterschiedlichen methodischen Herangehensweisen von RRs eingegangen und die... more
Zielsetzung: Im folgenden Workshop wird das Konzept Rapid Review (RR) als mögliches Tool zur schnellen Evidenzsynthese vorgestellt. Dabei wird auf die unterschiedlichen methodischen Herangehensweisen von RRs eingegangen und die potentiellen Vor- und Nachteile der Evidenzsynthese mittels RR werden[zum vollständigen Text gelangen Sie über die oben angegebene URL]
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The prototype summary format applied to the Cochrane review on 'Portion, package or tableware size for changing selection and consumption of food, alcohol and tobacco' (in German). (PDF 126 kb)
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Inventory of existing tools for summarising the findings of systematic reviews in the health field (last search 03/2017). (DOCX 33Â kb)
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Sensitivity analysis. Figure S1. Knekt et al. [1] removed due to use of different cut-offs to classify vitamin D; Figure S2. Graf et al. [2] removed for reasons of no adjustment for seasonal vitamin D changes, adjustment for presence of... more
Sensitivity analysis. Figure S1. Knekt et al. [1] removed due to use of different cut-offs to classify vitamin D; Figure S2. Graf et al. [2] removed for reasons of no adjustment for seasonal vitamin D changes, adjustment for presence of ApoE Îľ4 genotype, elderly population, and a population with partly mild cognitive impairments at baseline; Figure S3. Graf et al. [2] and Littlejohns et al. [3] removed due to older populations; Figure S4. Littlejohns et al. [3] and Schneider et al. [4] removed due to use of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to measure serum vitamin D concentrations; Figure S5. Knekt et al. [1] and Schneider et al. [4] removed due to use of dementia leading to hospitalisation as endpoint. (DOCX 152 kb)
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We identified 22 barriers and 17 facilitators. Competing interests of different stakeholder groups and reluctance to publish sensitive data or negative results were identified as main barriers, as well as lack of provided resources,... more
We identified 22 barriers and 17 facilitators. Competing interests of different stakeholder groups and reluctance to publish sensitive data or negative results were identified as main barriers, as well as lack of provided resources, mechanisms to enforce the proper implementation of these interventions, and lack of awareness of the problem of publication bias. Facilitators include international harmonization of prospective trial registration and raising awareness of publication bias among the scientific community. The results of the interviews confirmed the results of the thematic analysis of the literature and identified some new interventions: Changes in reward system, the education of researchers and the implementation and acceptance of guidelines for Good Clinical Practice were seen as important.
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Zielsetzung: Die Cochrane Public Health Group ist eine von insgesamt 53 Review Gruppen der Cochrane Collaboration und hat ihren Standort in der University of Melbourne, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Australien. Ihr... more
Zielsetzung: Die Cochrane Public Health Group ist eine von insgesamt 53 Review Gruppen der Cochrane Collaboration und hat ihren Standort in der University of Melbourne, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Australien. Ihr Ziel ist die Unterstützung und Verbreitung von systematischen[for full text, please go to the a.m. URL]
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Research Interests: Endocrinology, Anthropometry, Diet, Finland, Humans, and 15 moreInternal Medicine, Cox Regression, Blood Pressure, Female, Clinical Sciences, Genotype, Homeostasis, Analysis of Variance, First Year, Body Weight, Genetic variation, Body Fat, Glucose Intolerance, Impaired Glucose Tolerance, and Gene frequency
Research Interests: Endocrinology, Biology, Finland, Insulin Resistance, Adipose tissue, and 15 moreAssociation study, Humans, Internal Medicine, Insulin, Diabetes mellitus, Female, Body Size, Body Mass Index, Clinical Sciences, Adiponectin, Linkage Disequilibrium, Genetic variation, Codon, Genetic Markers, and Impaired Glucose Tolerance
Research Interests: Endocrinology, Biology, Medicine, Gene expression, Metabolic syndrome, and 15 moreInsulin Resistance, Humans, Internal Medicine, Insulin sensitivity index, Insulin, Glucose Metabolism, Body Mass Index, Clinical Sciences, Aged, Middle Aged, Adult, Glucose Intolerance, Control Group, Inflammatory response, and Metabolic Syndrome X
Background People with intellectual disabilities (ID) have a right to the highest level of health and to non-discrimination in health care. There are an estimated 89,000 people with ID living in Austria. Little is known about their health... more
Background People with intellectual disabilities (ID) have a right to the highest level of health and to non-discrimination in health care. There are an estimated 89,000 people with ID living in Austria. Little is known about their health status and about their health care. We carried out a systematic review with the aim to provide an overview of comparative studies on the health status and health behaviour of people with and without ID. Methods The systematic literature search was conducted in 3 electronic databases for the search period 2008 to March 2020, supplemented by a reference list check and a search of relevant websites. Abstracts and full texts were dually screened, data extraction was performed by one person and checked by a second. Bias risk was assessed by two people using the AXIS tool for cross-sectional studies. Results were summarised narratively. Results A total of 73 publications were included. The literature review reveals a very clear picture: people with ID ha...
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ObjectiveWe examined the expression of ghrelin and ghrelin receptors in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and evaluated the effect of weight loss or exercise on plasma ghrelin concentrations in subjects with the metabolic... more
ObjectiveWe examined the expression of ghrelin and ghrelin receptors in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and evaluated the effect of weight loss or exercise on plasma ghrelin concentrations in subjects with the metabolic syndrome.Design and methodsData from 75 overweight/obese subjects randomized to a weight loss, aerobic exercise, resistance exercise or control group for a 33-week intervention period were analysed. The plasma ghrelin concentrations and indices of insulin and glucose metabolism were assessed, and mRNA expression of ghrelin, its receptors and various cytokines in PBMCs was studied using real-time PCR.ResultsGhrelin and GH secretagogue receptor 1b were expressed in PBMCs of subjects with metabolic syndrome. Ghrelin gene expression correlated positively with the expressions of tumour necrosis factor-α (P<0.001), interleukin-1β (P<0.001) and interleukin-6 (P=0.026) during the study, but was not associated with the plasma ghrelin concentration. Genotype-s...
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Background During the Corona pandemic, many countries implemented restrictions on daily life to contain the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) These measures varied by country, depending on the... more
Background During the Corona pandemic, many countries implemented restrictions on daily life to contain the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) These measures varied by country, depending on the region and the rate of infections A group of Stanford University researchers led by Prof John Ioannidis concluded, based on an analysis of existing data from 10 countries, that a hard lockdown, compared with less restrictive measures, did not offer significant benefits in reducing infection rates The publication of the study (Bendavid et al ) is being used in social media as evidence that lockdowns have no significant benefit in containing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 Methods Six researchers independently assessed the methodological quality of the study The internationally accepted assessment tool ROBINS-I (Risk Of Bias in Non-randomized Studies of Interventions) was applied, which is divided into seven domains Conflicts in the evaluation were resolved by ...
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Internationally comparable assessments of implementation outcomes are a prerequisite for the accurate and useful exchange of implementation science results. We translated the English versions of the acceptability of intervention measure... more
Internationally comparable assessments of implementation outcomes are a prerequisite for the accurate and useful exchange of implementation science results. We translated the English versions of the acceptability of intervention measure (AIM), the intervention appropriateness measure (IAM), and the feasibility of intervention measure (FIM) into German following recent guidelines. We tested the structural validity, the internal consistency (Cronbach’s α), and the construct validity (known-groups validity) in a hypothetical situation study of secondary school teachers (n1 = 142) and the structural validity and the internal consistency in a pilot field study of primary school teachers participating in a school health promotion project (n2 = 61). The hypothesized three-factor solution (acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility) revealed the best model fit in the hypothetical situation study (CFI = 0.97; RMSEA = 0.08). The second study tended to support these results (CFI = 0.99; R...
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Objective: This study evaluated a simple environmental intervention called ‘Water Schools’ in Lower Austria providing free refillable water bottles and educational material. Design: Non-randomised controlled cluster trial with three... more
Objective: This study evaluated a simple environmental intervention called ‘Water Schools’ in Lower Austria providing free refillable water bottles and educational material. Design: Non-randomised controlled cluster trial with three measurements: at baseline (T0), after the intervention at 9 months (T1) and after 1-year follow-up (T2). Setting: Half-day elementary schools in Lower Austria (Austria). Participants: Third-grade pupils from twenty-two schools in the intervention group (IG) and thirty-two schools in the control group (CG) participated in the study. Data were analysed for 569 to 598 pupils in the IG and for 545 to 613 in the CG, depending on the time of measurement. Results: The consumption of tap water increased in the IG from baseline to T1 and then decreased again at T2, but this was similar in the CG (no statistically significant difference in the time trend between the IG and CG). Similar results were seen for tap water consumption in the mornings. The proportion of ...
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ObjectivesOccupational injuries and diseases are a huge public health problem and cause extensive suffering and loss of productivity. Nevertheless, many occupational health and safety (OHS) guidelines are still not based on the best... more
ObjectivesOccupational injuries and diseases are a huge public health problem and cause extensive suffering and loss of productivity. Nevertheless, many occupational health and safety (OHS) guidelines are still not based on the best available evidence. In the last decade, numerous systematic reviews on behavioural, relational and mixed interventions to reduce occupational injuries and diseases have been carried out, but a comprehensive synopsis is yet missing. The aim of this overview of reviews is to provide a comprehensive basis to inform evidence-based decision-making about interventions in the field of OHS.MethodsWe conducted an overview of reviews. We searched MEDLINE (Ovid), the Cochrane Library (Wiley), epistemonikos.org and Scopus (Elsevier) for relevant systematic reviews published between January 2008 and June 2018. Two authors independently screened abstracts and full-text publications and determined the risk of bias of the included systematic reviews with the ROBIS (Risk...
Zusammenfassung Cochrane Public Health erstellt systematische Übersichtsarbeiten zu populationsbezogenen Maßnahmen, die sich mit strukturellen und sozialen Einflüssen auf Gesundheit beschäftigen und liefert so eine Basis für... more
Zusammenfassung Cochrane Public Health erstellt systematische Übersichtsarbeiten zu populationsbezogenen Maßnahmen, die sich mit strukturellen und sozialen Einflüssen auf Gesundheit beschäftigen und liefert so eine Basis für evidenzbasierte Entscheidungen im Public Health Bereich. Neben der Unterstützung von Review Prozessen bereitet Cochrane Public Health Europe Ergebnisse neuer Cochrane Public Health Reviews verständlich und auf Deutsch für EntscheidungsträgerInnen und weitere Interessierte auf.