At more than 10 years after the paper by Hotopf and colleagues regarding pragmatic trials in psychiatry, the field has evolved and is evolving further. There have been many developments in our understanding of what pragmatism really means, and excellent examples of truly pragmatic trials in psychiatry are currently available. Funders have helped encourage more emphasis on the need for such stud...

OBJECTIVE Acupuncture is often used and frequently advocated for the symptomatic treatment of fibromyalgia. A systematic review has previously demonstrated encouraging findings. As it is now outdated, we wanted to update it. METHODS We searched seven electronic databases for relevant randomized clinical trials (RCTs). The data were extracted and validated independently by both authors. As no ...

OBJECTIVE To determine how well therapeutic randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology (JPP) met the CONSORT criteria as compared to pediatric trials in the Journal of Clinical and Consulting Psychology (JCCP), which served as a control. METHODS Nine trials were found in JPP and 19 clinical trials were retrieved from JCCP. The modified Consort Checklist and Flo...

background: this study aimed to assess the effectiveness of topiramate, a glutamate-modulating agent, in patients with treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (ocd) as an adjunct to serotonin reuptake inhibitors (sris). materials and methods: thirty-eight patients with refractory ocd, were randomly assigned to receive topiramate or placebo. this study was designed as a 12-week, double...

When Archie Cochrane reproached the medical profession for not having critical summaries of all randomised controlled trials, about 14 reports of trials were being published per day. There are now 75 trials, and 11 systematic reviews of trials, per day and a plateau in growth has not yet been reached. Although trials, reviews, and health technology assessments have undoubtedly had major impacts...

BACKGROUND Hematoma expansion (HE) is a surrogate marker in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) trials. However, the amount of HE necessary to produce poor outcomes in an individual is unclear; there is no agreement on a clinically meaningful definition of HE. We compared commonly used definitions of HE in their ability to predict poor outcome as defined by various cutpoints on the modified Rankin S...

BACKGROUND Adequate growth is an important indicator of health and well-being in infants. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to determine the effect of supplementing infant formula with long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) on the growth of term infants. DESIGN Using the methodology outlined by the Cochrane Collaboration, we reviewed all known randomized controlled trials that involved ...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether inhaled steroid therapy causes delayed linear growth in children with asthma. DATA SOURCES Medline (1966-1998), Embase (1980-1998), and Cinahl (1982-1998) databases and bibliographies of included studies were searched for randomized, controlled trials of inhaled steroid therapy in children with asthma that evaluated linear growth. STUDY SELECTION Studies were ...