Annual Evidence Updates - March 2009

The National Library for Health (NLH) Specialist Libraries have been developed to identify and meet the information needs of particular communities of practice. They are web-based collections containing clinical and non-clinical information on the major health priority areas. Each NLH Specialist Library identifies and provides access to quality assessed information of relevance to the community that it serves.

An aspect of this involves the production of Annual Evidence Updates, which aim to highlight the best current evidence for selected healthcare topics. Annual Evidence Updates consist of the good quality evidence from a search of research evidence on a particular topic over a 12 month period, plus user-friendly summaries written by relevant experts, and links to guidelines, secondary research and primary research, if applicable. All information included in Annual Evidence Updates has been subject to rigorous selection criteria.

The calendar of currently confirmed Annual Evidence Updates for 2009 is now available. The following Annual Evidence Updates are scheduled for March 2009:

Acne (Skin Disorders Specialist Library) 2nd March
This is the third Annual Evidence Update on Acne Vulgaris (common acne). As last year, the search for new evidence has been extended to randomised controlled trials as well as systematic reviews, because so few new systematic reviews have been published. Also included is a “what’s new” commentary and an updated version of systematic reviews on acne published since 1999, mapped by topic.

Dysmenorrhoea and endometriosis (Women's Health Specialist Library) 2nd March
The update aims to provide clinicians with the most up-to-date knowledge on the diagnosis and management of endometriosis and dysmenorrhoea.

Prostate cancer (Cancer Specialist Library) 9th March
The Annual Evidence Update consists of all relevant systematic reviews and national guidelines that have emerged in the twelve months since the last update in March 2008 covering causes, risks and prevention; screening; asessment and diagnosis; treatment and disease management, and service delivery and standards. The update is timed to coincide with Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

Hearing disorders (ENT Specialist Library) 16th March
Hearing disorder research continues to proliferate and this evidence update will present a concise summary of the latest emerging evidence on key topic areas, combined with expert commentaries and a list of current therapeutic uncertainties to highlight priorities for future research. Topics will include:

• Hearing aids
• Cochlear implants
• Tinnitus
• Newborn hearing screening and early assessment
• Glue ear
• Auditory processing disorder

Tuberculosis (Infections Specialist Library) 23rd March
The Infections Specialist Library in collaboration with the National Knowledge Service – TB will launch its Annual Evidence Update on Tuberculosis on 23rd March 2009. This has been timed to coincide with World TB Day on 24th March 2009. Topics include:

• Vaccines to prevent TB
• Treatment Completion
• Line probe assays
• HIV testing in TB clinics

Experts in the field will be providing commentaries on these subtopics, and links to other useful websites will also be provided.

Inflammatory bowel disease (Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases Specialist Library) 23rd March
The NLH Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases Specialist Library project team has carried out a systematic search on inflammatory bowel disease to identify all high level evidence published in the past year, namely guidelines, systematic reviews, health technology assessments and economic evaluations. Leading experts from around the UK have read and appraised these for their validity and relevance to the busy clinician.

Pain (Supportive and Palliative Care Specialist Library) 30th March
This Annual Evidence Update collects together the latest high quality evidence on three important aspects of pain in supportive and palliative care: cannabinoids for pain management; pain management in dementia, and pain and cancer survivorship.

UK Database of Uncertainties about the Effects of Treatment

The UK Database of Uncertainties about the Effects of Treatment (UK DUETs) has become a Specialist Library within the National Library for Health.

UK DUETs is being developed primarily to help those prioritising research in the UK to take account of the information needs of patients, carers and clinicians, as promoted by the James Lind Alliance. The database was established to publish uncertainties about the effects of treatments that cannot currently be answered by referring to reliable, up-to-date systematic reviews of existing research evidence.

Systematic reviews are based on worldwide searches for reliable, relevant evidence, analysed using methods to reduce biases and the play of chance. More detailed information about systematic reviews and fair tests of the effects of medical treatments is available in The James Lind Library.

DUETs draws on three main sources to identify uncertainties about the effects of treatments:

• patients', carers' and clinicians' questions about the effects of treatments
• research recommendations in reports of systematic reviews and clinical guidelines
• ongoing research, both systematic reviews in preparation and new 'primary' studies

Identifying uncertainties relevant to patients and clinicians
There are many important uncertainties about the effects of treatments. To help ensure that treatments are likely to do more good than harm, these gaps in knowledge must be identified and those deemed sufficiently important must be addressed in research, either by systematic assessment of what can be known from existing evidence, or by extending the evidence base. Research on the effects of treatments too often fails to address questions that matter to patients, and to the clinicians to whom they turn for help. For this reason, UK DUETs identifies and publishes unanswered questions about the effects of treatments which have been asked by patients and clinicians, while also noting therapeutic uncertainties identified through systematic reviews, clinical guidelines, and other formal mechanisms.

Cochrane Library - latest issue now online

The latest update to the Cochrane Library (Issue 1, January 2009) is now available. The 112 new reviews include:

• Acupuncture for tension-type headache
• Interventions for preventing weight gain after smoking cessation
• Publication bias in clinical trials due to statistical significance or direction of trial results
• Interventions for treating obesity in children
• Post-operative radiotherapy for ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast
• Vision screening of older drivers for preventing road traffic injuries and fatalities
• Pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy for body dysmorphic disorder
• Low glycaemic index, or low glycaemic load, diets for diabetes mellitus
• Very early versus delayed mobilisation after stroke
• Interventions for treatment of neonatal hyperglycemia in very low birth weight infants
• Dietary interventions for rheumatoid arthritis
• Antimicrobial prophylaxis for colorectal surgery

Click here for a document detailing all the highlights of the new issue.

If you require training on how to search the Cochrane Library please contact the library (ext 1545).

Book sale update

The library's book sale held on 28th January raised just over £300 to go towards the purchase of resources for trained staff working in the maternity department. We would like to thank everyone who donated items for the sale and who came along and parted with their cash. Here we see Yvonne Widdowson and Dr Rasool browsing some of the items on offer.

Our homemade cakes also raised £15 for the hospital's Happy Hearts Appeal.

The sale was so successful that we will be holding another in the near future. Watch this space!

Annual evidence updates - February 2009

The National Library for Health (NLH) Specialist Libraries have been developed to identify and meet the information needs of particular communities of practice. They are web-based collections containing clinical and non-clinical information on the major health priority areas. Each NLH Specialist Library identifies and provides access to quality assessed information of relevance to the community that it serves.

An aspect of this involves the production of Annual Evidence Updates, which aim to highlight the best current evidence for selected healthcare topics. Annual Evidence Updates consist of the good quality evidence from a search of research evidence on a particular topic over a 12 month period, plus user-friendly summaries written by relevant experts, and links to guidelines, secondary research and primary research, if applicable. All information included in Annual Evidence Updates has been subject to rigorous selection criteria.

The calendar of currently confirmed Annual Evidence Updates for 2009 is now available. The following Annual Evidence Updates are scheduled for February 2009:

Tinnitus (ENT and Audiology Specialist Library) 9th February
Tinnitus research continues to proliferate and in conjunction with National Tinnitus Week, this evidence update will present a concise summary of the latest emerging evidence on various sub-topics, combined with a list of current therapeutic uncertainties to highlight research gaps. Sub-topics will include: aetiology, risk factors, diagnosis, treatment, clinical tools, patient experiences, outcome assessment and service delivery.

Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Supportive and Palliative Care (Supportive and Palliative Care Specialist Library) 9th February
The best current evidence on three key topics is collected together:

• nausea and vomiting
• constipation
• bowel obstruction

Chest Pain (Cardiovascular Diseases Specialist Library) 23rd February
This annual evidence update updates the previous AEU published in February 2007.

Chest pain is a common reason for patients seeking healthcare, often as an emergency. But not all chest pain is cardiac in origin, and (for example) the proportion of patients calling for an ambulance with chest pain who have proven heart attack is low – less than 10% in some studies. We have identified key systematic reviews and related documents to support clinicians and commissioners in identifying the best available, current evidence on this topic. NICE are due to publish guidance on chest pain in December 2009.

The update includes commentaries from an Expert Group, chaired by Clinical Lead, Professor Tom Quinn, from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey.