Exercise modes and their association with hypoglycemia episodes in adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review.

Objective: Type 1 diabetes mellitus rates are rising worldwide. The health benefits of physical exercise in this condition are many, but more than 60% do not participate, mainly from fear of hypoglycemia. This systematic review explores the effects of physical exercise modes on blood glucose levels in adults for hypoglycemia prevention.

Predicting the life-time benefit of school-based smoking prevention programmes.

Aim: School-based smoking prevention programmes may delay the age of smoking initiation, but do not appear to achieve lasting reductions in smoking prevalence beyond school-leaving age. We explored whether delaying the age at which someone initiates smoking may have life-time benefits by increasing the likelihood of quitting in later life.

Design And Setting: Data from the General Household Survey of Great Britain were used in a logistic regression model to examine the association between age at which someone initiates regular smoking and the probability that the person will quit smoking later in life.

Clinical outcomes of exercise in the management of subacromial impingement syndrome: a systematic review.

Objective: To assess the clinical outcomes of types of exercise in the management of subacromial impingement syndrome.

Design: Systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

Methods: Studies were identified from databases searched to May 2009: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Sports Discus, PEDro, AMED, Cochrane Library, National Research Register, Index Chiropractic Literature.

Are tests for predicting pre-eclampsia good enough to make screening viable? A review of reviews and critical appraisal.

The aim of this article is to review the accuracy of tests purported to be predictive of pre-eclampsia, a major cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity worldwide. A review of systematic reviews was done. A total of 219 studies were evaluated for the accuracy of 27 tests for predicting pre-eclampsia.

Systematic review of effect of community-level interventions to reduce maternal mortality.

Background: The objective was to provide a systematic review of the effectiveness of community-level interventions to reduce maternal mortality.

Methods: We searched published papers using Medline, Embase, Cochrane library, CINAHL, BNI, CAB ABSTRACTS, IBSS, Web of Science, LILACS and African Index Medicus from inception or at least 1982 to June 2006; searched unpublished works using National Research Register website, metaRegister and the WHO International Trial Registry portal. We hand searched major references.

Quality assessment of diagnostic before-after studies: development of methodology in the context of a systematic review.

Background: Quality assessment tools for primary studies of test accuracy are relatively well developed, although only one is validated (QUADAS), but very little work has been done to develop tools to quality-assess studies evaluating the impact of diagnostic testing on management of patients (diagnostic or therapeutic yield). The recent draft NICE Guide to the Methods of Technology Appraisal (2007) suggests QUADAS "as a useful starting point for appraising studies that evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of a test" but does not mention how to quality assess diagnostic or therapeutic yield studies, in particular diagnostic before-after studies. In the context of undertaking a rapid systematic review of structural neuroimaging in psychosis for NICE, we describe the modifications that we made to QUADAS, our experience of this in practice and in relation to published theory on diagnostic or therapeutic yield studies.

Prediction of pre-eclampsia: a protocol for systematic reviews of test accuracy.

Background: Pre-eclampsia, a syndrome of hypertension and proteinuria, is a major cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Accurate prediction of pre-eclampsia is important, since high risk women could benefit from intensive monitoring and preventive treatment. However, decision making is currently hampered due to lack of precise and up to date comprehensive evidence summaries on estimates of risk of developing pre-eclampsia.