School prevention programs aimed at reducing alcohol misuse are good enough to consider widespread use, according to a new systematic review from the Cochrane Library. The review found 53 studies that explored a range of interventions. Some studies concluded that the prevention program had no effect, but others showed more positive results. The authors could [read the full story…]
Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney Australia have published a new systematic review that explores three different home and community care models for the elderly. The evidence in this field is patchy. Studies are heterogeneous (i.e. too different from one another to be pooled in a meta-analysis) and results are inconsistent. [read the full story…]
Aripiprazole is a second-generation antipsychotic that is widely used as a maintenance treatment for bipolar disorder in the US. It was approved by the FDA as a drug for this purpose in 2005. A new systematic review, published in the online journal PLOS medicine, sought to critically review the evidence supporting the use of aripiprazole [read the full story…]
This systematic review of prevalence rates of chronic health conditions in children with intellectual disability found 2,994 relevant studies published between 1996 to 2008. 31 studies were included that the authors felt had sufficient methodological quality. They found that the 6 most prevalent chronic health conditions were: Epilepsy (22.0/100), Cerebral palsy (19.8/100), Anxiety disorder (17.1/100), [read the full story…]
This systematic review looks at the literature on the effects of adverse life events or trauma on people with intellectual disabilities. The authors point out that there is a limited number of studies in this area and that effects of trauma seen in the general population literature are not necessarily transferable to the intellectual disability [read the full story…]
Epilepsy is a major issue for people with learning disabilities. The National epilepsy society suggest that around 30% of people with mild to moderate learning disability also have epilepsy and the more severe the learning disability, the more likelihood there is that the person will have epilepsy. However, diagnosing epilepsy in a person with learning [read the full story…]
Anxiety disorders are common and disabling conditions, with a lifetime prevalence of 17% in the general population. Due to high rates of treatment resistance, there is interest in new pharmacological treatment options. Second-generation antipsychotic drugs may be a helpful treatment for anxiety disorders. This Cochrane review looked at RCTs comparing quetiapine, olanzapine and risperidone with placebo [read the full story…]
