October is breast cancer awareness month. Women should know there is no reliable evidence that routine mammograms reduce death from breast cancer, and there’s good evidence that they cause harm.
An international study has dismissed the effectiveness of a homeopathic flu remedy but it is still being advertised in South Africa as a viable solution.
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Roy Jobson, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University
Internationally, the effects of a homeopathic flu remedy has been dismissed – but, in South Africa, it is still being advertised as effective.
As part of pandemic preparation, in the early 2000s many countries amassed large stockpiles of the influenza neuraminidase inhibitor Tamiflu.
Tony Hisgett/Flickr
One of the biggest recent controversies in medicine involves the effectiveness of the antiviral drug Tamiflu. Governments have stockpiled the drug but many have raised doubts about its usefulness.
Antivirals Tamiflu and Relenza were stockpiled by governments across the world in response to the 2009 swine flu pandemic.
Andrew Wales/Flickr
Antiviral drugs are largely ineffective for reducing hospital admissions and complications from influenza, and come with serious side-effects, according to a research review published by the Cochrane Collaboration…
Women who were randomised to receive midwife-led continuity models of care were less likely to experience preterm birth, the Cochrane review found.
feministjulie
Women who have a midwife as their main carer throughout pregnancy and birth are around 23% less likely to have a premature baby than women whose care is shared between different obstetricians, GPs and…
There’s a deep uncertainty about both the benefits and the harms of breast cancer screening as it is practiced today.
Tips Times/Flickr
When they were introduced over 20 years ago, national breast screening programs were a milestone in public health. They were based on evidence from randomised trials that screening saved lives. But there…
Non-publication of clinical trial data is a waste of research resources, among other things.
Esther Dyson
If researchers go to the effort of getting funds, recruiting patients, and following them up, you would think that they would be keen to publish the results. So it’s surprising that our best estimates…
Roche has refused to share clinical trial data for Tamiflu, which is used to relieve symptoms and reduce complications of influenza.
AAP/Joe Castro
A study published today shows that clinical trials with industry sponsorship report greater benefits and fewer harmful side effects. In the discussion, the authors note that most reviews and guidelines…
The effectiveness of influenza drug Tamiflu has been called into question.
AAP / Gatean Bally
Public health researchers have stepped up their campaign to access clinical trial data about influenza drug Tamiflu, amid concerns about its effectiveness. Professor Peter Gøtzsche, leader of the Nordic…
Systematic reviews help consumers, practitioners and policy makers identify what works.
Kenny Holston 21/Flickr
We work at the Australasian Cochrane Centre and we dread being asked what we do for a living. This isn’t because we don’t like what we do, in fact we love it. It’s because when we explain that our job…
Director, Evidence and Methods, National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce; Associate Professor (Research), Cochrane Australia, School of Population Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University