hne health libraries linking evidence with practice

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine geographical, age, and gender related differences in the prevalence of comorbidities and associated severity and mortality rates among COVID-19 patients. Of 120 studies with 125,446 patients, the most prevalent comorbidities were hypertension (32%), obesity (25%), diabetes (18%) and cardiovascular disease (16%). Chronic kidney or other renal diseases (51%), cerebrovascular accident (43%), and cardiovascular disease (44%) patients had more COVID-19 severity and mortality respectively. Considerable variation in the prevalence of comorbidities and associated disease severity and mortality in different geographic regions was observed.
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This guidance document was co-produced by a multi-professional group including clinicians, nurses, academics, and a member of the public. It provides current evidence regarding routes of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and offers recommendations to assist frontline health professionals and managers.
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An analysis of 36 systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials recently published in the MJA, identified just four conditions for which there was high or moderate quality evidence that paracetamol relieved pain – knee or hip osteoarthritis, craniotomy, tension-type headaches, and perineal pain after childbirth. However even then, the size of pain reduction is small. The study found high quality evidence that paracetamol is not effective for relieving acute low back pain. Frequency of adverse events was generally similar for people receiving placebo or paracetamol.
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This study from the Department of Respiratory & Sleep Medicine at JHH, provides insight into the patient’s experience of add-on therapies for severe asthma. Understanding these experiences will aid communication of the potential benefits and limitations of these add-on medications. They can also guide discussion around alternative treatment in cases of reduced treatment efficacy or non-response.
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