Objective To evaluate the efficacy of n-3 PUFAs (fish oil) for prevention of cardiovascular events. Methods Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were searched from the following electronic databases: PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library (Issue 1, 2009), CBM, and CNKI. Quality assessment and data extraction were conducted by two reviewers independently. Disagreement was resolved through discussion. All data were analyzed by using Review Manager 4.2 software. Results Five studies involving 37 689 participants met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis results showed that: 1) Compared with placebo, the incidence rates of the cardiovascular death (RR=0.91, 95% CI 0.84 to 0.98), cardiovascular events (RR=0.95, 95%CI 0.91 to 0.98), angina (RR=0.79, 95%CI 0.64 to 0.96), and myocardial infarction (RR=0.79, 95%CI 0.65 to 0.96) could be reduced by n-3 PUFAs (fish oil). 2) There were no significant differences in death from any cause, the hospitalization rates of cardiovascular disease, sudden death, and heart failure (RR=0.95, 95%CI 0.90 to 1.00; RR=0.97, 95%CI 0.93 to 1.02; RR=0.90, 95%CI 0.79 to 1.01; RR=0.98, 95%CI 0.91 to 1.06). 3) Compared with placebo, the incidence rates of the arrhythmia and stroke could be increased, but there were no significant differences (RR=1.14, 95%CI: 0.80 to 1.62; RR=1.12, 95%CI 0.97 to 1.30). Conclusion Compared with placebo, n-3 PUFAs (fish oil) has good effects on reducing the incidence rates of total cardiovascular events, cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, and angina pectoris, and it has the same efficacy in death from all cause, sudden death, heart failure, and the hospitalization rates of cardiovascular disease. There are no significant differences in the increased rates of arrhythmia and stroke.
ObjectiveTo integrate person imagery from drawing tests in screening for mental disorders through meta-analysis to identify indicators that can effectively predict mental disorders. MethodsA computerized search of CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, PubMed, Web of Science, and EBSCO databases was conducted to collect studies related to mental disorders and drawing tests, with a search timeframe of the period from the creation of the database to May 8, 2023. Meta-analysis was performed using CMA 3.0 after two researchers independently screened the literature, extracted information, and assessed the risk of bias. ResultsA total of 43 studies were included, with 791 independent effect sizes and 8 444 subjects. Meta-analysis revealed that a total of 29 person imagery traits significantly predicted mental disorders, which could be categorized into 7 types according to the features: absent, bizarre, blackened, simplified, static, detailed, and holistic. The subgroup analysis revealed that the specific indicators of affective disorders included "excessive separation among items", "oversimplified person", "rigid and static person" and "hands behind the back". The specific indicators of thought disorders were "absence of limbs", "absence of facial features" and "disproportionate body proportions". Moreover, there were seven common indicators of mental disorders, including "oversimplified drawing", "very small drawing", "very small person", "weak or intermittent lines", "single line limb", "absence of hands or feet" and "no expression or dullness''. ConclusionThe findings could provide a reference standard for selection and interpretation of drawing indicators, promote standardization of the drawing test, and enhance the accuracy of results in screening for mental disorders.
Objective To determine the value of 99m Tc-MIBI scintimmmography in diagnosing primary breast cancer and axillary lymph node metastases.Methods Independent, prospective, blinded studies were selected from the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, Springer, Elsevier and China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of scintimammography were estimated by comparison with the results of biopsy. Subsequently, the characteristics of included articles such as sensitivity, specificity of 99m
Objective To systematically evaluate the difference in leg length discrepancy (LLD) between robot-assisted total hip arthroplasty (THA) and traditional THA. Methods The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, EMbase, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, and CBM databases were searched by computer to collect cohort studies of robot-assisted and traditional THAs from inception to August 11th, 2021. Two researchers independently screened the literature, extracted the data, and evaluated the risk of bias of the included studies. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 10 high-quality cohort studies were included. The results of Meta-analysis showed that compared with traditional THA, LLD after robot-assisted THA was smaller [MD=−1.64, 95%CI (−2.25, −1.04), P<0.001], Harris scores at 3 and 12 months after operation were higher [MD=1.50, 95%CI (0.44, 2.57), P=0.006; MD=7.60, 95%CI (2.51, 12.68), P=0.003]. However, the operative time was longer [MD=8.36, 95%CI (4.56, 12.17), P<0.000 1], and the postoperative acetabular anteversion angle was larger [MD=1.91, 95%CI (1.43, 2.40), P<0.001]. There was no significant difference in Harris score at 6 months, amnesia index (Forgotten joint score, FJS), postoperative acetabular abduction angle, and incidence of complication between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion Robot-assisted THA is superior to traditional THA in postoperative LLD.
ObjectivesTo systematically review the efficacy of prophylactic antimicrobial use on preventing infections after arthroscopy.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, CBM and WanFang Data databases were electronically searched to collect clinical studies on the efficacy of prophylactic antimicrobial use on preventing infections after arthroscopy from January 1990 to September 2020. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed risk of bias of included studies; then, meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.3 software and Stata 15.0 software.ResultsA total of 8 retrospective cohort studies and 1 randomized controlled trial involving 60 136 subjects were included. The results of the meta-analysis showed that: there was no difference in the post-operational infection rate among patients with and without antimicrobial prophylaxis for arthroscopies (OR=0.51, 95%CI 0.25 to 1.04, P=0.06). For knee arthroscopies, the post-operational infection rate had no difference between patients with and without antimicrobial prophylaxis (OR=0.89, 95% CI 0.65 to 1.23, P=0.48). However, for shoulder arthroscopies, the post-operational infection rate in the antimicrobial prophylaxis group was significantly lower than that in the group without the antimicrobial prophylaxis(OR=0.18, 95%CI 0.08 to 0.37, P<0.000 01).ConclusionsCurrent evidence shows that there is no association between preoperative antimicrobial prophylaxis and a decreased infection rate for knee arthroscopies. Antimicrobial prophylaxis appears to lead to fewer infections after shoulder arthroscopies. Due to the limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high-quality studies are required to verify above conclusions.
Hazard ratio (HR) is usually regarded as the effect size in survival studies. Meanwhile, it is supposed to be perfect for pooling results in the meta-analysis of survival data. However, it does not function usually due to absence of original data for pooling HR. As a compromise method, entering data from reading Kaplan-Meier curves and follow-up times into the calculation spreadsheet can also be used to obtain related survival data. But related study on the subject is scarce, and opinions are inconsistent. Accordingly, we conduct this study to further illustrate the procedure in details.
Objective To systematically review the effectiveness and model building process of heparin treatment for animal model with smoke inhalation injury. Methods Databases including PubMed, EMbase, CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data were searched to collect animal experiments about the treatment of heparin for animal model with smoke inhalation injury from inception to November 2016. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then meta-analysis was conducted by RevMan 5.3 software. Results A total of nine studies involving 11 animal experiments were included. The results showed that building animal model with smoke inhalation injury were through burning of cotton towels or pine sawdust by sheep or rats below 40℃. The results of meta-analysis showed that there was no significant difference in mortality rate between two groups (heparin group vs. control group: RR=0.38, 95%CI 0.14 to 1.05, P=0.06; heparin plus DMSO group vs. DMSO group: RR=0.10, 95%CI 0.01 to 1.51, P=0.10). In addition, the pulmonary artery pressure (MD=–3.31, 95%CI –4.51 to –2.11, P<0.000 01), wet to dry weight ratio (MD=–0.90, 95%CI –1.19 to –0.61, P<0.000 01), and lung water content (MD=–1.18, 95%CI –1.67 to –0.70, P<0.000 01) of the experimental group were lower than those in the control group. PaO2/FiO2 after 12 hours (MD=131.00, 95%CI 59.54 to 202.46, P=0.000 3), PaO2/FiO2 after 24 hours (MD=114.00, 95%CI 60.56 to 167.44, P<0.000 1), PaO2/FiO2 after 48 hours (MD=46.00, 95%CI 20.62 to 71.38, P=0.000 4) were higher than those in the control group. However, there was no significant difference in coagulation function between both groups. Conclusion The current evidence shows that the establishment of animal model of smoke inhalation injury is still lack of standard method. Heparin can decrease pulmonary artery pressure and lung water content in animal models with smoke inhalation injury. Due to the limited quality and quantity of included studies, the above conclusions are still needed to be verified by more high quality studies.
Objective To investigate confidence interval estimation for the amount of heterogeneity in meta-analysis. Methods On the basis of BT’s method, the approximate Q-statistic distribution following linear transformation of Chi-square was applied to improve the accuracy of Q-statistic distribution, and to obtain the confidence interval for the amount of heterogeneity in meta-analysis. Results In case, the Q1 distribution obtained 95%CI 0.07 to 2.20, while the Q2 distribution obtained 95%CI 0.00 to 1.41; The proposed method Q2 narrowed down the range of confidence interval. Conclusion On account of improving the accuracy of Q-statistic distribution, the proposed method effectively strengthens the coverage probabilities of the confidence interval for the amount of heterogeneity. And the proposed method can also improve the precision of the confidence interval estimation for the amount of heterogeneity.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy and safety of laryngeal mask versus endotracheal tubes for laparoscopic surgery.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang Data and CBM databases were electronically searched to collect the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about the efficacy and safety of laryngeal mask versus endotracheal tubes for laparoscopic surgery from inception to April, 2017. 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 16 RCTs involving 1 593 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that: there was no significant difference in the success rate of the first insertion (RR=0.99, 95%CI 0.96 to 1.02, P=0.55). The airway pressure of patients whose position were head higher than foot was significantly lower in the laryngeal mask group than in the tracheal intubation group (MD=–1.20, 95%CI –1.81 to –0.59, P=0.000 1), but there was no significant difference between two groups in reverse position patients (MD=0.48, 95%CI –0.90 to 1.87, P=0.49). The incidence of sore throat (RR=0.58, 95%CI 0.46 to 0.74, P<0.000 01), the incidence of blood stain (RR=0.48, 95%CI 0.30 to 0.77, P=0.002), the incidence of laryngeal spasm/bronchial spasm (OR=0.30, 95%CI 0.11 to 0.80, P=0.02) and the incidence of cough/hiccup (RR=0.10, 95%CI 0.07 to 0.15, P<0.000 01) in the laryngeal mask group were significantly lower than those in the tracheal intubation group.ConclusionThe current evidence shows that compared with tracheal intubation, laryngeal mask can effectively reduce airway pressure of patients whose position are head higher than foot. The risks of various complications are significant higher in tracheal intubation in laparoscopic surgery. Laryngeal mask can maintain patients' normal respiratory functions while reduce damage and do not increase the occurrence of reflux aspiration. Due to limited quantity and quality of the included studies, more high quality studies are needed to verify above conclusion.
ObjectivesTo systematically review the efficacy of yoga treatment for low back pain.MethodsWeb of Science, BBSCO Academic Source Complete, Elsevier ScienceDirect, Scopus, PubMed, WanFang Data and CNKI databases were electronically searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of yoga intervention for low back pain from inception to November 4th, 2019. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies; then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software.ResultsA total of 14 RCTs involving 1 684 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that: compared with conventional treatment, the RMDQ scores of yoga treatment for low back pain was statistically significant lower (MD=–1.86, 95%CI –2.39 to –1.33, P<0.000 01). The results of subgroup analysis showed that the exercise frequency, low back pain degree, low back pain cause, intervention period and sample size had not altered efficacy of yoga.ConclusionsCurrent evidence shows that yoga can achieve superior results in low back pain. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high-quality studies are required to verify above conclusions.