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 efficacy and safety of controlled hypotension for total hip or knee replacement.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang Data and CBM databases were electronically searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on controlled hypotension for total hip or knee replacement from inception to September 2019. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies, then, meta-analysis was performed by RevMan 5.3 software.ResultsA total of 15 RCTs involving 854 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that compared with no controlled hypotension during surgery, controlled hypotension could reduce intraoperative blood loss (MD=−267.35, 95%CI −314.54 to −220.16, P<0.000 01), allogeneic blood transfusion (MD=−292.84, 95%CI −384.95 to −200.73, P<0.000 01), and 24 h postoperative mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score (MD=−1.08, 95%CI −1.82 to −0.34, P=0.004). However, there were no significant differences in 96 h postoperative MMSE score (MD=−0.11, 95%CI −0.50 to 0.28, P= 0.57) and intraoperative urine volume (MD=57.93, 95%CI −152.57 to 268.44, P=0.59).ConclusionsThe current evidence shows that controlled hypotension during total hip or knee replacement can reduce intraoperative blood loss and allogeneic blood transfusion. Furthermore, there is no obvious effect on the maintenance of blood perfusion in important organs, despite certain effects on the postoperative cognitive function, which can be recovered in short term. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality studies are required to verify above conclusions.
Objective To assess systematically the safety and ef fects of stem cell transplantation in stroke patients.Methods CENTRAL (April 2007), MEDLINE (1966 to April 2007), EMBASE (1980 to April 2007), and other databases were searched for RCT of the use of stem cell transplantation for patients with stroke. We critically appraised the quality of included studies according to Juny 2001. We assessed the effects of stem cell therapy on mortal ity, functional outcomes, cognitive functions, image changes, quality of life, and adverse effects by doing meta-analysis with The Cochrane Collaboration’ s Review Manager. Dichotomous outcomes were reported as relative risk and continuous outcome measures as weighted mean differences, with 95% confidence intervals.Results Three RCTs and one historical controlled trial were included involving a total of 69 participants. Only one trial reported the effect on mortality, but because of the small number of death it was not possible to detect any significant differences between stem cell transplantation and routine treatment (RR 0.11, 95%CI 0.01 to 2.31, P = 0.16). Three studies indicated a statistically significant improvement of some functional outcomes in patients treated by stem cell transplantation. Improvements of cognitive function were reported in another trial. One trial showed that the stem cell transplantation significantly improved qual ity of life compared with the control group. Conclusion The current evidence is insufficient to determine whether or not stem cell transplantation is a safe and effective therapy for stroke patients. High-quality, large-scale randomized trials are needed to assess the role of stem cell transplantation for stroke.
ObjectivesTo systematically review the training needs of managing staffs in tertiary hospitals in China, to understand the requirements of in-service training for hospital managing staffs, and to provide references for the target and content of tertiary hospital managing staff training.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP databases were searched to collect cross-sectional studies on the training needs of managing staffs in tertiary hospitals in China. The retrieval time was from inception to July 29th, 2018. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted the data and descriptive analysis was conducted on the training needs of managing staffs in tertiary hospitals.ResultsA total of 11 studies were included. The results of systematic review suggested that: as for the requirements of training content, hospital management, leadership, personnel training, human resource management and innovation awareness were the most demanding training contents. As for the training methods, experience exchange, case study and topic teaching were the most popular. As for the training time, 2 to 3 days of quarterly training was the most acceptable training time.ConclusionsThere are great training requirements for managing staffs in tertiary hospitals in China, with a large amount of training content and diversity methods. In future, training objectives and methods should be designed to meet the requirements of managing staffs, so as to enhance training quality and achieve training goals.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the risk factors associated with sleep disorders in ICU patients.MethodsWe searched The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang Data, VIP and CBM databases to collect cohort studies, case-control studies and cross-sectional studies on the risk factors associated with sleep disorders in ICU patients from inception to October, 2018. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and evaluated the bias risk of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.3 software.ResultsA total of 9 articles were included, with a total of 1 068 patients, including 12 risk factors. The results of meta-analysis showed that the combined effect of equipment noise (OR=0.42, 95%CI 0.26 to 0.68, P=0.000 4), patients’ talk (OR=0.53, 95%CI 0.42 to 0.66, P<0.000 01), patients’ noise (OR=0.39, 95%CI 0.21 to 0.74, P=0.004), light (OR=0.29, 95%CI 0.18 to 0.45, P<0.000 01), night treatment (OR=0.36, 95%CI 0.26 to 0.50, P<0.000 01), diseases and drug effects (OR=0.17,95%CI 0.08 to 0.36, P<0.000 01), pain (OR=0.37, 95%CI 0.17 to 0.82, P=0.01), comfort changes (OR=0.34,95%CI 0.17 to 0.67,P=0.002), anxiety (OR=0.31,95%CI 0.12 to 0.78, P=0.01), visit time (OR=0.72, 95%CI 0.53 to 0.98, P=0.04), economic burden (OR=0.63, 95%CI 0.48 to 0.82, P=0.000 5) were statistically significant risk factors for sleep disorders in ICU patients.ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that the risk factors for sleep disorders in ICU patients are environmental factors (talking voices of nurses, patient noise, and light), treatment factors (night treatment), disease factors (disease itself and drug effects, pain,) and psychological factors (visiting time, economic burden). Due to the limited quality and quantity of included studies, more high quality studies are needed to verify the above conclusions.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the association between insomnia and the risk of hypertension. MethodsThe EMbase, PubMed, The Cochrane Library, VIP, WanFang Data and CNKI databases were electronically searched to collect cohort studies on the association between insomnia and hypertension from inception to October 2021. Two reviewers independently screened the literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of the included studies. Meta-analysis was then performed by using Stata 13.0 software. ResultsA total of 20 cohort studies involving 607 409 participants were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that insomnia increased the risk of hypertension (RR=1.24, 95%CI 1.15 to 1.34, P<0.000 1). Subgroup analysis showed that insomnia increased the risk of hypertension in North American, European and Oceanian population, but not in Asian population. The difficulty falling asleep, difficulty maintaining sleep and early awakening all increased the risk of hypertension. ConclusionCurrent evidence suggests that insomnia increases the risk of hypertension.
Objective To evaluate the effectiveness ofradiofrequency volumetric tissue reduction （RFVTR） in the treatment of sleep disordered breathing （SDB ）. Methods We searched The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials （Issue 1, 2005）, MEDLINE （1966 to Apr. 2005）, EMBASE （1989 to Apr. 2005）, CINAHL （1982 to Dec. 2000）, VIP （1989 to Dec. 2004） , CJFD （1979 to 2005）, WANFANG DATA （1977 to 2004） , and CBMdisc （1978 to 2005）. The bibliographies of all papers retrieved in full text form and relevant narrative reviews were searched for additional publications. All randomized controlled clinical trials （RCT） or quasi-randomized controlled trials （quasi-RCT） or prospective cohort studies of RFVTR alone or in combination with other treatments compared with placebo or other treatments were included. Data were extracted independently from the trial reports by the two authors. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan software. Results There were 11 studies including 540 patients met the inclusion criteria for this review, among which five were RCTs, six were prospective cohort studies, and all trials were of lower methodological quality. RFVTR showed benefit over placebo in apnea index （AI）, but this benefit was not seen in other polysorrmography （PSG） parameters, symptom and quality of life, psychomotor vigilance pain, swallowing difficulty and adverse events. Compared with continuous positive airway pressure （CPAP）, uvulopalatopharyngoplasty （UPPP） and laser assisted uvulopalatoplasty （LAUP） , RFVTR was more effective in psychomotor vigilance pain and swallowing difficulty, but this effect was not seen in PSG parameters, symptom and quality of life. Conclusions RFVTR is more effective than placebo in AI improvement and other treatments in decreasing postoperative pain and other adverse events ; but this benefit was not seen in improving quality of sleeping and life. More well-designed randomized trials need to be conducted to identify the effectiveness and the influence on effectiveness of severity and frequency of treatment.
Objective To systematically review the impact of Beijing's comprehensive reform of medical consumption linkage on medical expenses, hospital services, and hospital income. Methods Databases including CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, CBM, PubMed, and Web of Science were searched to collect empirical research on evaluating the impact of Beijing's comprehensive reform of medical consumption linkage on patient medical expenses and hospital operation (service volume and income structure) from June 15th, 2019 to August 15th, 2021. A descriptive analysis was performed after two reviewers independently screened the literature and extracted data. Results A total of 23 studies were included, and most of them found a relatively small change in the average outpatient and emergency medical expenses after the reform. However, the average inpatient expenses in some hospitals showed an increasing trend; the service volume of most hospitals increased slightly, and the income structure was optimized (e.g., surgery and other medical technology services revenue and its proportion increased). Conclusion The comprehensive reform of the medical consumption linkage in Beijing is the practice of deepening the reform of the medical service price mechanism. Based on the summary of the reform effect, it is recommended to further improve the price mechanism, improve service quality, and promote hierarchical diagnosis and treatment.
Objective To systematically review the efficacy and adverse events of alendronate on bone mineral density and fractures in men with osteoporosis. Methods We electronically searched MEDLINE (1990 to 2005), EMBASE (1990 to 2005), The Cochrane Library (Issue 3, 2005), Controlled Trials Register and The National Research Register, CBM disc, VIP, and CNKI. We also handsearched some related journals. The search was conducted in Nov., 2005. The quality of included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was evaluated and meta-analysis was conducted by RevMan 4.2.8. Results We identified 7 studies including 817 patients. Sufficient evidence showed that alendronate plus calcium was superior as preventive treatment to calcium in increasing the bone mineral density (SMD 0.59, 95% CI 0.15 to 1.03, P=0.009) of the lumbar spine. The incidence of withdrawal and lost to follow-up due to adverse events of the alendronate plus calcium was lower than that of calcium (RR 0.32, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.87). Two studies showed that alendronate was superior to placebo in increasing the bone mineral density in men with osteoporosis but with no significantly statistical difference in reducing fractures. Two studies showed alendronate was superior to alfacalcidol in increasing the bone mineral density and reducing the vertebral fractures in men with osteoporosis. One study showed alendronate was not superior to calcitonin or alfacalcidol in increasing the bone mineral density in men at high risk of osteoporosis. One study comparing anledronate or parathyroid hormone with combination of these drugs in men with osteoporosis suggested that anledronate wasn’t superior to parathyroid hormone in increasing the bone mineral density, and the combination did not show any difference compared to parathyroid hormone alone. Conclusions Alendronate is more effective in prevention and treatment of men with osteoporosis compared to placebo. Alendronate is more effective than alfacalcidol in increasing bone mineral density and reducingvertebral fractures in men with osteoporosis. Alendronate is not superior to alfacalcidol or calcitonin in increasing the bone mineral density in preventing men osteoporosis. Alendronate compared to combination of parathyroid hormone does not show more effectiveness in increasing the bone mineral density in men with osteoporosis. More RCTs of high quality, especially multiple center trials are needed to generate ber evidence.
Objective To access and identify risk factors related to death and injuries in earthquakes. Method We searched The Cochrane Library, SCI, PubMed, CBM and CNKI from establishment to June 2008 to identify cohort, case-control and cross-sectional studies involving risk factors related to death and injuries in earthquakes. The methodological quality of included cohort and case-controlled studies were assessed, and the potential risk factors of earthquake related death and injuries were systematically enumerated. Results Two cohort, 2 case-control and 4 cross-sectional studies were included. Some included studies might be associated with selection bias. Risk factors for earthquake death and injuries included age, gender, mental disease, physical disabled, socioeconomics status, type/ age/ height/ collapse of building, motor vehicle driver and geographical location when the earthquake occurred. Conclusions Death and injuries in earthquakes may be attributed to 3 categories: demographic characteristics, building features, and seismic/ geographical/ location factors. However, the conclusion of this review and its implications may be limited by the potential selection bias of included studies and the regional characteristics of the included populations. Original studies from Chinese seismic areas are especially needed.