What are the benefits and harms of lubricating eye drops for contact lens discomfort?

Women undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer treatment or risk reduction can choose among different options for breast reconstruction. In this podcast, the lead author of a new Cochrane review from October 2024, Nicola Rocco, breast oncoplastic surgeon and assistant professor at the University Hospital Federico II of Naples (Italy) discusses its findings for the comparison of implants and autologous tissue for breast reconstruction following mastectomy, with one of his c0-authors, Corrado Rispoli, from Monaldi Hospital in Naples.

Age-related macular degeneration is a progressive, sight-threatening disease affecting the retina at the back of the eye. There are several Cochrane Reviews of its treatment and, in October 2024 we published a new review of the use of artificial intelligence for its diagnosis. Here’s the review’s first author, Chaerim Kang from Brown University in the USA, to tell us more.

One of our most highly cited and largest reviews, published in 2012, looks at interventions for preventing falls in older people living in the community. During its updating, it’s being split into a series of smaller reviews focused on specific interventions. In this podcast, two authors, Amy Drahota and Heather Mackenzie from the Universities of Portsmouth and Southampton in the UK, talk about the update for the studies of psychological and educational interventions, which was published in October 2024.

In August 2024, we published the latest update of the Cochrane Review of the effect of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors on women with premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. In this podcast, two of the authors, Jeppe Bennekou Schroll and Cecilie Jespersen, both from Cochrane Denmark, talk about the need for the review and its latest findings. 

Some Cochrane Reviews cut across more than one Cochrane Group. This is the case with the September 2024 update of the review of interventions for malaria and HIV in pregnancy. Here are two of the authors, Clara Pons-Duran and Raquel González from Barcelona University in Spain to tell us about the importance of the review and its findings.

Ankle fractures are one of the most common fractures of the lower limb and it’s important to have evidence on how to help people recover from them. There’s been a Cochrane Review of this since 2008 and the most recent update was published in September 2024. In this podcast, Sophie Degraeve from Symmetron, talks with new author, Chris Bretherton from the Blizard Institute at Queen Mary University of London in the UK, about the latest findings.

Several Cochrane Reviews look at interventions for palliative care. These were added to in September 2024 with the publication of a new review of psychedelic-assisted therapy. In this podcast, two of the authors, Sivan Schipper from Spital Uster and Christopher Boehlke from University Hospital Basel both in Switzerland, tell us about the treatment and the review’s findings.

The hundreds of reviews from the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group include several of vitamin supplementation during pregnancy. One of these looks at Vitamin D and its third update was published in July 2024. We asked one of the authors, Lia Kostiuk, a board-certified Preventive Medicine physician in the USA to tell us about the latest findings in this podcast.

Many wearers of contact lenses use lubricating drops to ease the discomfort they feel with the lens, but how effective are these drops? Here’s lead author of the September 2024 Cochrane review, Barbara Caffery from Toronto Eye Care in Canada, to tell us about the evidence.

The Cochrane Neonatal Group produces and updates Cochrane Reviews to provide comprehensive coverage of the evidence on the care of babies and infants. In this podcast, we present an important topic in neonatal care: the management of pain and discomfort during spinal taps in newborns, for which a new Cochrane review was published in September 2023. In this podcast, two of the authors talk about the findings. Ehsan Hedayati and Sara Pessano, welcome to the podcast.