The specialist collections 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 specialist collection 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 until September 2009 is available here. The following Annual Evidence Updates are scheduled for June:
Heavy menstrual bleeding (Women's health specialist collection) - 1st June
The update aims to provide clinicians with the most up-to-date knowledge on the diagnosis and management of heavy menstrual bleeding.
Atrial fibrillation (Cardiovascular diseases specialist collection) - 1st June
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia and if left untreated is a significant risk factor for stroke and other morbidities. NICE published a guideline on management of AF in June 2006. We have systematically identified high quality evidence that has appeared since then, and will present this with summaries written by leading experts in the field.
Drugs misuse (Public health specialist collection) - 8th June
The theme for this first update is drugs misuse treatment in offender populations. We have teamed up with experts from the Addictions Centre based at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London to evaluate the evidence and put it into context. The AEU runs in conjunction with the Home Office Drugs Week.
Age related macular degeneration (Eyes and vision specialist collection) - 15th June
A collection of the evidence that has emerged since the 2008 AEU will be presented under a number of topics reflecting aspects of the care pathway. The evidence will be categorised into secondary publications (systematic reviews and meta-analyses), interventional studies (randomised control trials and clinical control trials) and observational studies. The emphasis of the AEU will be on the sight threatening or visually impairing forms of age-related macular degeneration.
Oesophago-gastric cancers (Cancer and Gastroenterology and liver diseases specialist collections) - 22nd June
This is the first Annual Evidence Update on oesophago-gastric cancers. It presents the results of a search for new guidance and systematic reviews that have appeared in the last 2 years. As this is first AEU in this topic area an overview will be presented, highlighting significant new evidence, together with other important resources.
Health needs of people with learning disabilities (Learning disabilities specialist collection) - 29th June
People with learning disabilities have a higher level of health needs than the general population, many of which are unmet. This update provides evidence summaries and bibliographies of published research for some key health issues:
- Cancer
- Challenging behaviour
- Coronary heart disease
- Epilepsy
- Respiratory illness
- Visual impairment
Osteoporosis (Musculoskeletal specialist collection) - 29th June
As with previous updates the team have sifted the publications in this area in the 12 months up to the end of May 2009 and have concentrated on highlighting systematic reviews, these being the most reliable and least biased evidence available to guide practice and improve knowledge in this area.
