In a blog for anyone with an interest in brain tumours, brainstrust Director of Services and Cochrane Review author Helen Bulbeck reflects on supportive care, what it is, what research tells us about the current state of play with supportive care, and what people living with brain tumours might find helpful.
Latest Articles
My OCD journey 2: learning and compassion in tough times
In this blog, Karen Morley, who in 2018 wrote for Evidently Cochrane about her experiences of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and how evidence helped her, tells us what has happened since, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on her mental health, the challenges, and things she has found empowering.
Epilepsy: what are the best medications?
In this blog for people making choices about epilepsy medication, Dr Alexandre Mathy, a neurology registrar at Oxford University Hospitals, explains what the latest Cochrane evidence tells us about which medications may be most effective and best tolerated for people with focal seizures or generalised onset tonic‐clonic seizures.
Cataract surgery: both eyes on the same day or on different days?
People who need cataract surgery on both eyes may wonder whether it is better to have them done on the same day or on different days. Sarah Chapman looks at the Cochrane evidence on how the two approaches compare and discusses what else might be important to consider.
Cataract surgery: a quick look
A short blog for people who have cataracts in both eyes and are thinking about surgery.
Signs and symptoms of COVID-19 (coronavirus): Cochrane evidence
Sarah Chapman looks at a new Cochrane Review on how useful signs and symptoms are for diagnosing COVID-19.
Personal experiences or anecdotes (stories) are an unreliable basis for assessing the effects of most treatments
This blog explains why personal experience, or a series of personal experiences, can be misleading. Just because an individual got better after using a treatment does not mean that other people who receive the same treatment will also improve, or that the treatment is responsible – ‘regression to the mean’ tells us that experiences such as pain may improve anyway without treatment.
Motor neurone disease: making choices about managing symptoms
Sarah Chapman revisits her blog about one man’s experience of motor neurone disease (MND) and the Cochrane evidence on treatments to help manage symptoms of MND/ALS.
Preparing for an operation with lifestyle changes
In this blog for people waiting for an operation, Dr Rebecca Gould, Cochrane UK Fellow and Sport and Exercise Medicine Registrar, explores some of the lifestyle changes people can make to prior to an operation and Brian Devlin, Cochrane UK Consumer Champion, shares his own experiences of getting ready for an operation.
High blood pressure: what can we do to prevent it?
In this blog for healthy people who want to know what they can do to prevent high blood pressure and avoid the need to take medication Robert Walton, a GP, looks at the Cochrane evidence and gives some hints and tips.
Drugs for agitation in people with dementia: benefits and risks
In this blog for the families of people with dementia, Doctors Charlotte Squires and James Garrard talk about drugs used to treat symptoms of agitation and psychosis in people with diagnosed dementia, and what doctors and families together might want to consider when making decisions about trying these treatments.
Preventing dementia: what’s the evidence?
In a blog for non-medical people, James Garrard, Specialist Registrar in Geriatric Medicine, looks at the evidence of drug and non-drug approaches to try and prevent dementia.