Controlled trials are the principal means of investigating the effects of therapeutic and prophylactic interventions. They can be designed to avoid biases, and so provide clear and reliable insights into 'what works' under ideal circumstances. Controlled trials can, however, also generate evidence to inform decisions [...]
A recent study showed that a moderately sized systematic review (index SR) could be completed in 2 weeks (2weekSR) by protecting time to solely focus on SR tasks and supported by systematic review automation (SRA) tools. Given that SRs are time and resource intensive that [...]
The objective of this study is to evaluate an approach using automation and crowdsourcing to identify and classify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a living systematic review (LSR). Records from a database search for RCTs in RA were screened first by [...]
The objective of this study is to evaluate the strength of the evidence for, and the extent of, overdiagnosis in non-cancer conditions. We systematically searched for studies investigating overdiagnosis in non-cancer conditions. Using the 'Fair Umpire' framework to assess the evidence that cases diagnosed by [...]
Primary care (PC) is a unique clinical specialty and research discipline with its own perspectives and methods. Research in this field uses varied research methods and study designs to investigate myriad topics. The diversity of PC presents challenges for reporting, and despite the proliferation of [...]
Patients with kidney failure on hemodialysis (HD) experience considerable symptom burden and poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL). There is limited use of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) in facility HD units to direct immediate care, with response rates in other studies between 36 to [...]
Social media platforms have emerged as a useful channel for health promotion communication, offering different channels to reach targeted populations. For example, social media has recently been used to disseminate information about COVID-19 vaccination across various demographics. Traditional modes of health communication such as television, [...]
While controlled trials establish an intervention's effectiveness, poor intervention descriptions can obscure substantial variation. To address this problem, Kraiss and colleagues extend the systematic review process with several additional steps. Although important for clinical and policymaking in addiction, the considerable effort needed will be a [...]
Basic science has found limited evidence from small studies of genuine positive effects on health and wellbeing outcomes, caused by positive treatment expectations, known as placebo effects.1 Naturally, many researchers and clinicians are curious about how to harness the placebo effect in clinical practice to improve [...]
Robust evidence regarding the benefits and harms of notifying Australian women when routine breast screening identifies that they have dense breasts is needed for informing future mammography population screening practice and policy. Objectives of this RCT are to assess the psychosocial and health services use [...]