metaanalysis

Background High-pressure injection injuries are devastating injuries that often lead to an amputation of the primarily affected finger. The available literature mainly focuses on amputation rates, while there is a lack of knowledge regarding functional results. Patients and Methods Between 1998 and 2016, 47 cases of high-pressure injection injuries of the hand were registered in our department. Out of these, data of 26 patients, all men with an average age of 42 (18-62) years, were included in a retrospective follow-up examination after 4 (1-12) years...

A number of investigators have evaluated the association between T744C, G52T and C34T polymorphisms in the P2Y12 receptor gene and clopidogrel resistance (CR), but the results of their research are controversial. To quantify the evidence addressing this issue, we performed a meta-analysis of all available studies to evaluate the above association between the 3 different P2Y12 genotypes and CR in patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases. This study included articles up to October 2015. We performed a systematic search of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and WanFang database...

Background The onset of early and/or late seizures in brain injured patients is associated with worse outcome. So far, phenytoin is the most commonly used antiepileptic drug to prevent seizures in this group of patients. Objective In the current metaanalysis, we aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of phenytoin versus levetiracetam for seizure prophylaxis in brain injured patients. Methods A systematic search was conducted in PubMed and Cochrane Library Database by 2 investigators. Four randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included (295 patients)...

BACKGROUND: Agitation poses a significant challenge in the treatment of schizophrenia. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a fast, effective and safe treatment for a variety of psychiatric disorders, but no meta-analysis of ECT treatment for agitation in schizophrenia has yet been reported. AIMS: To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of ECT alone or ECT-antipsychotics (APs) combination for agitation in schizophrenia. METHODS: Systematic literature search of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was performed...

BACKGROUND: Negative symptoms are one of the most difficult areas in the treatment of schizophrenia because antipsychotics are often less effective towards them. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a new technique for cerebral cortex stimulation and is believed to be a safe and promising method for the treatment of mental disorders. As the clinical research and new treatment models have increased in recent years, the efficacy towards negative symptoms and safety evaluation of rTMS treatment should also be updated...

OBJECTIVE: Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAID) are used as first-line agents to treat acute gout. Recent trials suggest a possible first-line role for corticosteroids. METHODS: We conducted a metaanalysis of randomized controlled trials (RCT) evaluating corticosteroid versus NSAID therapy (nonselective and selective) as treatment for acute gout. MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CENTRAL were systematically searched through August 2016. Outcomes included pain, bleeding, joint swelling, erythema, tenderness, activity limitation, response to therapy, quality of life, time to resolution, supplementary analgesics, and adverse events...

The purpose of this review is to explain the historical and clinical background for intravenous fish oil administration, to evaluate its results by using a product specific metaanalysis, and to stimulate further research in the immune-modulatory potential of fish oil. Concerning the immune-modulatory effects of fatty acids, a study revealed that ω-3 as well as ω-6 fatty acids would prolong transplant survival, and only a mixture with an ω-6:ω-3 ratio of 2.1:1 would give immune-neutral results. In 1998, the label of a newly registered fish oil emulsion also acknowledged this immune-neutral ratio in conjunction with ω-6 lipids...

OBJECTIVES: To explore the effects of light therapy on behavioral disturbances (BDs), sleep quality, and depression. DESIGN: Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. SETTING: PubMed, Cochrane Library, Medline, EMBASE, Web of Science, and clinicaltrials.gov of selected randomized controlled trials and previous systematic reviews were searched. PARTICIPANTS: Cognitively impaired persons. MEASUREMENTS: Information was extracted on study characteristics, quality assessment, and outcomes...

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have emerged as a new treatment option for patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Some studies with ICIs in NSCLC suggested that smoking history was associated with improved survival outcomes. We conducted this meta-analysis to investigate if survival benefits of ICIs in patients with advanced NSCLC are different according to smoking status. Electronic databases were searched for eligible studies. We included randomized controlled trials with the data of survival outcomes and extracted progression-free survival (PFS) or overall survival (OS) stratified by smoking status...

A review of the latest and most relevant information on different disorders of head and facial pain is presented. News from epidemiologic studies regarding the relationship between migraine and patent foramen ovale, the cardiovascular risk in migraine, and migraine behavior during menopause, and the development of white matter lesions or migraine genetics are presented. Regarding pathophysiology there are very recent insights regarding the role of the hypothalamus during prodromal phase and the interplay of brain-stem and hypothalamus during the attack...

Recently, several studies have reported that inflammatory response and elevated platelet counts may be associated with the poor prognosis of colorectal cancer. This meta-analysis was designed to analyze and evaluate the prognostic role of elevated preoperative or pretreatment neutrophils-to-lymphocytes ratio, platelet-to-lymphocytes ratio or platelet counts in patients with colorectal cancer. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and Web of Science to April, 2016. A total of 23 studies (N = 11762 participants) were included for this meta-analysis...

BACKGROUND: Currently, there is no standardized treatment regimen for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. AIM: We performed a metaanalysis of high quality randomized controlled trials that evaluated treatment response to metformin, thiazolidinediones (TZDs), and vitamin E in adult patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Outcome measures were improvement in liver histology, biochemical, and anthropometric measures. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Nine trials met inclusion criteria (3 with TZD, 3 with Metformin, 2 with Vitamin E and 1 with both TZD and Vitamin E...

BACKGROUND: We wished to assess the frequency of overinterpretation in systematic reviews of diagnostic accuracy studies. METHODS: MEDLINE was searched through PubMed from December 2015 to January 2016. Systematic reviews of diagnostic accuracy studies in English were included if they reported one or more metaanalyses of accuracy estimates. We built and piloted a list of 10 items that represent actual overinterpretation in the abstract and/or full-text conclusion, and a list of 9 items that represent potential overinterpretation...

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have emerged as a promising treatment option in the fight against advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). KRAS is the most frequently mutated oncogene in NSCLC. We performed this meta-analysis to investigate if KRAS mutation status affects survival benefits of ICIs in patients with advanced NSCLC. Electronic databases were searched for eligible studies. We included randomized trials with the data of overall survival stratified by KRAS mutation status. From 3 eligible studies, 138 patients with KRAS mutant NSCLC and 371 with KRAS wild-type tumor were included in the meta-analysis...

OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to examine the effect of supportive care interventions on depressive symptoms in patients with lung cancer. METHOD: We searched the databases of the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Ovid EMBASE, PubMed, and the Chinese Electronic Periodical Services (CEPS) from their inception until September of 2015. We included randomized controlled trial studies that compared standard care with supportive care interventions. The standardized mean difference (SMD) (Cohen's d) was calculated to estimate the effect of interventions...

Sperm morphology displays a potential impact on sperm function and may ultimately impact reproductive function. Current studies have investigated the correlation between sperm morphology with unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) but have shown inconsistent results. Hence, we systematically searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CNKI databases, as well as the Cochrane Library for studies that examined the association between sperm morphology and unexplained RSA. Fifteen studies were identified, including 883 cases and 530 controls...

We prospectively analyzed the clinical outcomes of 72 patients (2,3) and we came to similar conclusions. Conceptually, covered stents present the advantage to prevent tumor ingrowth within the stent, and, being more compliant, they could facilitate pyloric motility. However, they dislodge more easily, and distal migration of the stent can lead to serious consequences (4). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

To understand the relationship between p-Akt expression and the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer, we searched six databases, Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wanfang and CBM for relevant articles in order to conduct this metaanalysis. The pooled hazard ratios and corresponding 95%CI of overall survival were calculated to evaluate the prognostic value of p-Akt expression in patients with gastric cancer. With 2261 patients combined from 13 available studies, the pooled HR showed a poor prognosis in patients with gastric cancer in the univariate analysis (HR=1...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Constipation, a common complaint in children, considerably affects the quality of life. This systematic review assessed the treatment effects of glucomannan on children with constipation by summarising evidence from previous randomised controlled trials (RCTs). METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: A comprehensive electronic literature search was conducted for identifying eligible RCTs that evaluated the effectiveness of glucomannan. The results were reported as mean differences (MDs), standardised mean differences (SMDs), and risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs)...

PURPOSE: Pars plana vitrectomy has been reported to increase the risk of ocular hypertension and open-angle glaucoma. The authors conducted a systematic review of randomized and nonrandomized studies to compare the incidence of open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension in vitrectomized versus nonvitrectomized eyes. METHODS: A literature search was performed using MEDLINE and EMBASE until August 2016. Data on ocular hypertension and open-angle glaucoma incidence and mean intraocular pressure after at least 1 year were pooled using random-effects metaanalysis models...