ObjectiveTo systematically review the association between Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection and Parkinson's disease (PD). MethodsPubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data databases were electronically searched to collect case-control studies on the association between HP and PD from January 2000 to July 2021. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Meta-analysis was then performed using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 16 case-control studies involving 2 790 subjects were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that the HP infection rate was higher in PD patients than that in healthy patients (OR=1.87, 95%CI 1.38 to 2.54, P<0.000 1). The results of subgroup analysis showed that the infection rate of HP in PD group in Asia and Africa region was significantly higher than that in control group, but not in Europe region. Breath tests and other detection methods were used to detect HP infection, and the HP infection rate in PD group was significantly higher than that in the healthy control group. However, there was no significant difference in HP infection between the two groups by ELISA. UPDRS Ⅲ score of PD patients with HP infection was significantly higher than that of PD patients without HP infection. ConclusionsCurrent evidence shows that PD patients have a higher HP infection rate than the normal population, and the rates are affected by regions and HP detection methods. In addition, HP infection can aggravate the motor symptoms and motor complications of PD patients. Due to limited quality and quantity of included studies, more high-quality studies are required to verify the above conclusions.
Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of albendazole (ABZ) in the treatment of hepatic cystic echinococcosis (HCE). Methods Randomised trials and quasi-randomised trials of ABZ for treating HCE were sought by electronic and handsearching. Studies were analyzed according to the methods recommended by The Cochrane Collabration. Results Only two studies met the inclusion criteria. The quality of both was graded as B. One study compared ABZ with mebendazole (MBZ). This showed similar effective rates in the numbers of cysts and cases [RR 1.19, 95%CI (0.97, 1.46)] and [RR 1.35, 95%CI (0.91, 2.00)]. The other study compared ABZ plus surgery with surgery alone.This showed that efficacy was comparable between one-month treatment of ABZ plus surgery and surgery alone [RR 1.63, 95%CI (0.90, 2.93)]; but that 3 months of treatment with ABZ plus surgery could significantly improve the efficacy compared to surgery alone [RR 1.89, 95% CI (1.09, 3.29)]. Conclusion In the treatment of HCE, ABZ has similar efficacy on MBZ; long-term (3 months) treatment of ABZ given before surgery may improve the efficacy when compared to surgery alone. More high-quality randomised trials are required to define the role of ABZ in treating HCE.
Objectives To assess the effects of alpha-glucosidase inhibitors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Method We searched The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Current Contents, LILACS, databases of ongoing trials, reference lists of reviews on the topic of alpha-glucosidase inhibitors and we contacted experts and manufacturers for additional trials. Date of most recent search: December 2003 (Current Contents) and April 2003 (other databases). Randomised controlled trials of at least 12 weeks duration comparing alpha-glucosidase inhibitor monotherapy in patients with type 2 diabetes with any other intervention and that included at least one of the following outcomes: mortality, morbidity, quality of life, glycemic control, lipids, insulin levels, body weight, adverse events. Two reviewers read all abstracts, assessed quality and extracted data independently. Discrepancies were resolved by consensus or by the judgement of a third reviewer. A statistician checked all extracted data entrance in the database. We attempted to contact all authors for data clarification. Results We included 41 trials (8130 participants), 30 investigated acarbose, seven miglitol, one trial voglibose and three trials compared different alpha-glucosidase inhibitors. Study duration was 24 weeks in most cases and only two studies lasted amply longer than one year. We found only few data on mortality, morbidity and quality of life. Acarbose had a clear effect on glycemic control compared to placebo: glycated haemoglobin –0.77% (95% confidence interval –0.90 to –0.64), fasting blood glucose –1.1 mmol/L (95% confidence interval –1.4 to –0.9), post-load blood glucose –2.32 mmol/L (95% confidence interval –2.73 to –1.92). The effect on glycated haemoglobin by acarbose was not dose-dependent. We found a decreasing effect on post-load insulin and no clinically relevant effects on lipids or body weight. Adverse effects were mostly of gastro-intestinal origin and dose dependent. Compared to sulphonylurea, acarbose decreased fasting and post-load insulin levels by –24.8 pmol/L (95% confidence interval –43.3 to –6.3) and –133.2 pmol/L (95% confidence interval –184.5 to –81.8) respectively and acarbose caused more adverse effects. Conclusions It remains unclear whether alpha-glucosidase inhibitors influence mortality or morbidity in patients with type 2 diabetes. Conversely, they have a significant effect on glycemic control and insulin levels, but no statistically significant effect on lipids and body weight. These effects are less sure when alpha-glucosidase inhibitors are used for a longer duration. Acarbose dosages higher than 50 mg TID offer no additional effect on glycated haemoglobin but more adverse effects instead. Compared to sulphonylurea, alpha-glucosidase inhibitors lower fasting and post-load insulin levels and have an inferior profile regarding glycemic control and adverse effects.
ObjectivesTo systematically review the influence of nifedipine combined with atorvastatin on hypertension in patients with hypertension.MethodPubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CBM, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP databases were electronically searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of nifedipine combined with atorvastatin on hypertension in patients with hypertension from inception to November 20th, 2018. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies, then, meta-analysis was performed by using Stata 12.0 software.ResultsA total of 17 RCTs involving 1 838 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis indicated that nifedipine combined with atorvastatin was superior to nifedipine alone on SBP (MD=?8.937, 95%CI?11.913 to ?5.962, P<0.001), DBP (MD=?3.702, 95%CI?6.626 to ?0.778, P=0.013) and total effective rate (RR=1.24, 95%CI 1.07 to 1.44, P=0.003). There was no significant difference between two groups in the incidence of adverse reactions (P>0.05).ConclusionsCurrent evidence shows that nifedipine combined with atorvastatin can significantly improve total effective rate, decrease the level of SBP and DBP, and increasing of dose not increase the incidence of adverse reactions. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality studies are required to verify above conclusions.
ObjectivesTo survey the current research situation, methodological and reporting quality of the systematic review/meta-analysis (SRs/MAs) of animal studies.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, BIOSIS Previews, CNKI, WanFang Data, CBM and VIP databases were searched to collect SRs/MAs of animal studies from inception to June 2016. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, a descriptive analysis was then conducted.ResultsA total of 609 SRs/MAs of animal studies were included, which were from 27 countries and published in 526 journals. Merely 36.8% (224/609) studies assessed the risk of bias in the original animal experiments. Less than 50% studies reported the method of literature selection (41.9%, 255/609), data abstraction (32.0%, 195/609) and study characteristics (41.2%, 251/609).ConclusionsThe published SRs/MAs of animal studies is poor in both methodological and reporting quality. Thus, we hope to improve awareness and actual use rates of these guidelines by basic medical researchers and journal editors, thereby improving the quality of animal experimental methods and reporting standards.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the intestinal flora diversity profile of pancreatic cancer patients. MethodsThe Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, EMbase, CNKI, CBM, WanFang Data and VIP databases were electronically searched to collect cross-sectional studies on the intestinal flora diversity profile of pancreatic cancer patients from inception to December 31, 2021. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies; then, meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 7 cross-sectional studies involving 250 pancreatic cancer patients and 166 healthy controls were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that: compared with the healthy control group, the intestinal flora of patients with pancreatic cancer α reduced diversity with the Shannon index. High-throughput sequencing found that Proteobacteria and Prevotella were more abundant in pancreatic cancer patients, Firmicutes, Faecalbacterium, Bifidobacterium and Clostridium in pancreatic cancer patients was lower. ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that the intestinal flora of pancreatic cancer patients has certain characteristics. Proteobacteria and Prevotella are relatively abundant in pancreatic cancer patients. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high-quality studies are needed to verify above conclusion.
Background Mortality and morbidity of acute myocardial infarction remains high. Intravenous magnesium started early after the onset of myocardial infarction is a promising adjunctive treatment that may limit infarct size, prevent serious arrhythmias, and reduce mortality. Several earlier trials and meta-analyses demonstrated a mortality rate reduction with magnesium treatment, but one mega trial found no benefit. Objective To examine the effect of intravenous magnesium versus control on early mortality and morbidity, stratified by time since onset of symptoms (lt;6 hours, 6+ hours), use of thrombolysis (used, not used), dose of magnesium used (lt;75 mmol, 75+ mmol). Search strategy We search the Cochrane controlled trial register (CCTR) of Cochrane Library, Medline and Embase. We also search Chinese Biomedical Disk (CBM disk) to identify the Chinese trials. Each database will be searched from its starting date to the first-half year of 2002. Selection criteria All randomized controlled trials that compared intravenous magnesium with placebo in the presence or absence of fibrolytic therapy in addition to routine treatment are eligible if they reported mortality and clinical events within 35 days of onset, regardless of language. Methods of review A data abstraction form will be specifically developed to extract information from the eligible articles. The quality assessment of RCT will be focused on method of treatment assignment, blinding of participants and investigators, control of selection bias after treatment assignment. The selection of studies, data extraction and assessment of methodological quality will be performed independently by two reviewers. Disagreements will be resolved through discussion, when necessary, in consultation with a third reviewer. Publication bias, heterogeneity and sensitivity analysis will be performed. The odds ratio (OR) will be used to pooling the effect if appropriate.
Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with thermotherapy for primary hepatic carcinoma (PHC), and to provide references for clinical practice and research. Methods The following databases as The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data were searched electronically, and the other sources as supplying, such as tracing related references, were also retrieved. Besides, some unknown information was also obtained by communicating with other authors. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on TACE combined with thermotherapy versus TACE alone were collected. The literature was screened according to inclusive criteria, data were extracted and the quality of included studies was assessed, and then meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.1 software. Results A total of 17 RCTs with 907 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that compared with TACE alone, TACE combined with thermotherapy had a significant difference in 1-year survival rate (HR=2.40, 95%CI 1.65 to 3.48, Plt;0.000 01), 2-year survival rate (HR=3.28, 95%CI 1.87 to 5.76, Plt;0.000 1), total effective rate (RR=1.59, 95%CI 1.42 to 1.79, Plt;0.000 1) and improvement rate of life quality (RR=1.79, 95%CI 1.42 to 2.25, Plt;0.000 1). The incidences of myelosuppression and alimentary canal reactions were lower in TACE combined with thermotherapy group than those in TACE alone group, but statistically significance was only found in myelosuppression (RR=0.79, 95%CI 0.69 to 0.92, P=0.001). Conclusion Compared with TACE alone, TACE combined with thermotherapy can improve long-term survival rate and short-term curative effect, ameliorate the quality of life, and tend to reduce the incidence rate of side effects. But its long-term curative effect and more comprehensive safety still needs to be further verified by more large sample and high quality RCTs.
The most important difference between systematic review and traditional narrative review lies in their respective quality, namely the degree of bias control. Generally speaking, the sources of bias include the process of literature searching, study selection, data extraction and original studies. A systematic review may greatly reduce bias, as it takes effective steps such as developing search strategies, undertaking funnel plot analysis, using established criteria for study selection, and assessment of the methodology quality of studies. All these help to control, identify and, describe the possible bias.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the diagnostic value of FDG-PET, Aβ-PET and tau-PET for Alzheimer ’s disease (AD).MethodsPubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP and CBM databases were electronically searched to collect diagnostic tests of FDG-PET, Aβ-PET and tau-PET for AD from January 2000 to February 2020. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies; then, meta-analysis was performed by Meta-Disc 1.4 and Stata 14.0 software.ResultsA total of 31 studies involving 3 718 subjects were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, using normal population as control, the sensitivity/specificity of FDG-PET and Aβ-PET in diagnosing AD were 0.853/0.734 and 0.824/0.771, respectively. Only 2 studies were included for tau-PET and meta-analysis was not performed.ConclusionsFDG-PET and Aβ-PET can provide good diagnostic accuracy for AD, and their diagnostic efficacy is similar. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality studies are required to verify the above conclusions.