Exploring methodological approaches used in network meta-analysis of psychological interventions: A scoping review.

Psychological interventions are complex in nature and have been shown to benefit various clinical outcomes. Gaining insight into current practices would help identify specific aspects that need improvement to enhance the quality of network meta-analysis (NMA) in this field. This scoping review aimed to explore methodological approaches in the NMA of psychological interventions.

Diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care tests for acute respiratory infection: a systematic review of reviews.

Background: Acute respiratory infections are a common reason for consultation with primary and emergency healthcare services. Identifying individuals with a bacterial infection is crucial to ensure appropriate treatment. However, it is also important to avoid overprescription of antibiotics, to prevent unnecessary side effects and antimicrobial resistance.

Beta-blockers for the treatment of anxiety disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Beta-blocker prescriptions for patients with anxiety increased substantially between 2003 and 2018, yet there is no clinical guidance concerning their use. A previous review of propranolol - a beta-blocker - in the treatment of anxiety concluded there was insufficient evidence to support its use. Additional data have been published in the eight years since that review including some evidence for other beta-blockers.

A systematic review and network meta-analysis of psychological, psychosocial, pharmacological, physical and combined treatments for adults with a new episode of depression.

Background: Various effective treatments for depression exist. We aimed to identify the most effective first-line treatments for new episodes of less and more severe depression (defined by depression scale cut-off scores), to update NICE guidance on the management of Depression in Adults in England.

Methods: Systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published up to June 2020 (PROSPERO registration number CRD42019151328).

Response to discussant comments on "NMA, the first 20 years".

We respond to discussant comments on our paper "Twenty years of network meta-analysis: Continuing controversies and recent developments" (https://doi.org/10.1002/jrsm.

Community mobilisation approaches to preventing adolescent multiple risk behaviour: a realist review.

Background: Adolescent multiple risk behaviour (MRB) is a global health issue. Most interventions have focused on the proximal causes of adolescent MRB such as peer or family influence, with systematic reviews reporting mixed evidence of effectiveness. There is increasing recognition that community mobilisation approaches could be beneficial for adolescent health.

Twenty years of network meta-analysis: Continuing controversies and recent developments.

Network meta-analysis (NMA) is an extension of pairwise meta-analysis (PMA) which combines evidence from trials on multiple treatments in connected networks. NMA delivers internally consistent estimates of relative treatment efficacy, needed for rational decision making. Over its first 20 years NMA's use has grown exponentially, with applications in both health technology assessment (HTA), primarily re-imbursement decisions and clinical guideline development, and clinical research publications.

Pharmacological treatments in panic disorder in adults: a network meta-analysis.

Background: A panic attack is a discrete period of fear or anxiety that has a rapid onset and reaches a peak within 10 minutes. The main symptoms involve bodily systems, such as racing heart, chest pain, sweating, shaking, dizziness, flushing, churning stomach, faintness and breathlessness. Other recognised panic attack symptoms involve fearful cognitions, such as the fear of collapse, going mad or dying, and derealisation (the sensation that the world is unreal).

Data visualisation approaches for component network meta-analysis: visualising the data structure.

Background: Health and social care interventions are often complex and can be decomposed into multiple components. Multicomponent interventions are often evaluated in randomised controlled trials. Across trials, interventions often have components in common which are given alongside other components which differ across trials.

Comparative effectiveness of psychological interventions for treating the psychological consequences of sexual abuse in children and adolescents: a network meta-analysis.

Background: Following sexual abuse, children and young people may develop a range of psychological problems, including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and a range of behaviour problems. Those working with children and young people experiencing these problems may use one or more of a range of psychological approaches.

Objectives: To assess the relative effectiveness of psychological interventions compared to other treatments or no treatment controls, to overcome psychological consequences of sexual abuse in children and young people up to 18 years of age.

A systematic review of communication interventions for countering vaccine misinformation.

Background: Misinformation and disinformation around vaccines has grown in recent years, exacerbated during the Covid-19 pandemic. Effective strategies for countering vaccine misinformation and disinformation are crucial for tackling vaccine hesitancy. We conducted a systematic review to identify and describe communications-based strategies used to prevent and ameliorate the effect of mis- and dis-information on people's attitudes and behaviours surrounding vaccination (objective 1) and examined their effectiveness (objective 2).

Commentary/Response: Economic evidence should be routinely collected and reported for studies of intervention effectiveness in mental health. A commentary on Vartiainen et al. (2022).

Anxiety and related disorders are increasingly widespread amongst children and adolescents. Preventing mental health disorders from developing has the potential to realise long-term benefits for children and adolescents. In their paper, 'Economic evidence of preventive interventions for anxiety disorders in children and adolescents-a systematic review', Vartiainen et al.

Does provision of antenatal care in Southern Asia improve neonatal survival? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Southern Asia has one of the highest burdens of neonatal mortality worldwide (26/1000 live births). Ensuring that women receive antenatal care from a skilled provider may play an important role in reducing this burden.

Objective: This study aimed to determine whether antenatal care received from a skilled provider could reduce neonatal mortality in Southern Asia by systematically reviewing existing evidence.

Antenatal care in Nepal: a qualitative study into missed opportunities in the first trimester.

Background: Use of timely antenatal care has been identified as key to facilitating healthy pregnancies worldwide. Although considerable investment has been made to enhance maternal health services in Nepal, approximately one-third of women do not attend antenatal care until after the first trimester (late). These women miss out on the benefits of screening and interventions that are most effective in the first trimester.

Practitioner and digitally delivered interventions for reducing hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption in people not seeking alcohol treatment: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

Aim: To compare the effectiveness of practitioner versus digitally delivered interventions for reducing hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption.

Design: Systematic review and network meta-analysis comprising comprehensive search for randomised controlled trials, robust screening and selection methods and appraisal with the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Network meta-analyses were conducted in Stata using random effects, frequentist models.

Pharmacological and Psychotherapeutic Interventions for Management of Obsessive-compulsive Disorder in Adults: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis.

Reprinted under Creative Commons CC-BY license.

Individual-, family- and school-based interventions to prevent multiple risk behaviours relating to alcohol, tobacco and drug use in young people aged 8-25 years: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Engagement in multiple substance use risk behaviours such as tobacco smoking, alcohol and drug use during adolescence can result in adverse health and social outcomes. The impact of interventions that address multiple substance use risk behaviours, and the differential impact of universal versus targeted approaches, is unclear given findings from systematic reviews have been mixed. Our objective was to assess effects of interventions targeting multiple substance use behaviours in adolescents.

A systematic review and narrative synthesis of antenatal interventions to improve maternal and neonatal health in Nepal.

Background: Maternal and neonatal mortality rates remain high in many economically underdeveloped countries, including Nepal, and good quality antenatal care can reduce adverse pregnancy outcomes. However, identifying how to best improve antenatal care can be challenging.

Objective: To identify the interventions that have been investigated in the antenatal period in Nepal for maternal or neonatal benefit.

Smoking cessation medicines and e-cigarettes: a systematic review, network meta-analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis.

Background: Cigarette smoking is one of the leading causes of early death. Varenicline [Champix (UK), Pfizer Europe MA EEIG, Brussels, Belgium; or Chantix (USA), Pfizer Inc., Mission, KS, USA], bupropion (Zyban; GlaxoSmithKline, Brentford, UK) and nicotine replacement therapy are licensed aids for quitting smoking in the UK.

Comparative clinical effectiveness and safety of tobacco cessation pharmacotherapies and electronic cigarettes: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Aim: To determine how varenicline, bupropion, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and electronic cigarettes compare with respect to their clinical effectiveness and safety.

Method: Systematic reviews and Bayesian network meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials, in any setting, of varenicline, bupropion, NRT and e-cigarettes (in high, standard and low doses, alone or in combination) in adult smokers and smokeless tobacco users with follow-up duration of 24 weeks or greater (effectiveness) or any duration (safety). Nine databases were searched until 19 February 2019.

Is adolescent multiple risk behaviour associated with reduced socioeconomic status in young adulthood and do those with low socioeconomic backgrounds experience greater negative impact? Findings from two UK birth cohort studies.

Background: Adolescent multiple risk behaviour (MRB) is associated with negative outcomes such as police arrests, unemployment and premature mortality and morbidity. What is unknown is whether MRB is associated with socioeconomic status (SES) in adulthood. We test whether adolescent MRB is associated with socioeconomic status (SES) in young adulthood and whether it is moderated by early life SES variables.