News archive

DARE abstracts now in PubMed

We are delighted to announce that DARE abstracts critically appraising systematic reviews of health and social care interventions are now available in PubMed.

Systematic reviews are widely recognised as reliable sources of information about the effects of health and social care interventions. But as with individual research studies, they can be hard to find, may have flaws and can be difficult to interpret.

Between 1994 and March 2015, CRD produced and maintained DARE, a database uniquely providing access to over 13,000 abstracts of quality assessed and critically appraised systematic reviews.

PubMed is the leading source for finding published health literature, containing over 24 million citations. A free resource, PubMed is developed and maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the U.S. National Library of Medicine, located at the National Institutes of Health.

11 May 2015

Changes to DARE and NHS EED

NIHR funding to produce DARE and NHS EED ceased at the end of March 2015. However, both databases can still be accessed via the CRD website. Searches of MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO and PubMed were continued until the end of the 2014. Bibliographic records were published on DARE and NHS EED until 31st March 2015.

The HTA database will continue to be produced by CRD for the foreseeable future.

From 1 April 2015 the NIHR Dissemination Centre at the University of Southampton will make available summaries of new research. Details can be found at http://www.disseminationcentre.nihr.ac.uk/

HTA database: Canadian search interface launch

We are pleased to announce the launch of a Canadian search interface for the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) database. The new dedicated interface is the result of collaboration between CRD as producers of the HTA database and the Pan-Canadian HTA Collaborative Working Group for a Canadian HTA Repository. The Canadian search interface can be found at https://www.cadth.ca/resources/hta-database-canadian-search-interface

This mutually beneficial collaboration involved Canadian agencies piloting a new ‘client administration system’ developed for contributors to the HTA database. This system will now be rolled out across the international HTA community to facilitate direct uploading of records to the HTA database.

The HTA database, funded by the NIHR, is a single repository for brief details of ongoing and completed HTA reports from around the world. Bringing this information together helps promote the use of HTAs in health care decision making and can help avoid duplicating assessments.

The dedicated Canadian search interface is bilingual and defaults to searching for Canadian records, with the option to limit by province, or expand to international. Promotion of this enhanced access to Canadian HTA reports should encourage the addition of records to the HTA database and health decision makers to search for existing HTAs within Canada and internationally.
Prof Lesley Stewart, Director of CRD said “We are delighted that the HTA database is to be used as the Canadian HTA repository through their dedicated search interface. Having a single searchable site benefits everyone involved in commissioning, undertaking and using the findings of health technology assessments.”

14 January 2015

Changes to NHS EED and DARE

We are continuing to search MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO and PubMed until the end of the 2014 database year.

Bibliographic records will be published on DARE and NHS EED until 31st March 2015.

NIHR funding to produce DARE and NHS EED ceases at the end of March 2015. However, both databases can be accessed via the CRD website.

The HTA database will continue to be produced by CRD for the foreseeable future.

From 1 April 2015 the NIHR Dissemination Centre at the University of Southampton will make available summaries of new research. Details can be found at http://www.disseminationcentre.nihr.ac.uk/

OK to ask

May 20th 2014 marks the 267th anniversary of the first ever recorded clinical trial, in which the Scottish physician James Lind discovered that vitamin C could be used to treat scurvy. The subsequent practice of including lime juice in Royal Navy rations led to the slang term “limeys” to denote British people in other English speaking parts of the world. Read more...

Saturated fat and heart disease

“Guidelines urging people to avoid fat to stave off heart disease ‘are wrong’” reported the Daily Mail on 18th March. This was one of several news stories reporting the results of a newly published systematic review on the association between fatty acids and coronary disease. Read more...

Focus on Stroke

Despite being the third most common cause of death in the UK (and a leading cause of disability), stroke tends to receive less attention than the other “big killers” of cancer and heart disease.

However, while it may not often make the headlines, stroke is a major focus of worldwide research. Read more...

The power of music to comfort, console and inspire

Since long before William Congreve wrote “Music has charms to sooth a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak”, humankind has been fascinated by the power of music to comfort, console and inspire.

This is reflected in recent news reports on a study of music therapy to help adolescents and young adults cope with cancer treatment. Read more...

Improving the quality of life of dementia carers

Dementia is a major and growing global public health issue. According to the Alzheimer’s Society, around 800,000 people in the UK have the condition, and as people live longer this figure is likely to double in the coming decades.

The December G8 Dementia Summit has focused attention on the need for a global research strategy, and made a call for greater innovation to improve the quality of life for people with dementia and their carers while reducing emotional and financial burden. Read more...

Plain packaging for cigarettes

At the end of November 2013, the UK government announced an independent review of the effects of plain cigarette packaging.

At least among politicians, there seems to be some disagreement over whether or not the existing evidence is sufficient to shape policy. Labour supports a plain packaging policy, insisting that “the evidence is clear for all to see”, while Public Health Minister Jane Ellison said that only now is it time to "examine the emerging evidence".

What is the evidence for the potential impact of plain tobacco packaging? Read more...

Changes to DATE restricted searches

We have created a new date field LPD which is labelled as Record Date in the search interface above. This enables date restricted searches for bibliographic records and/or those with full critical commentaries.

The old date field PD remains available to use. This limits by the date a record was added to the CRD databases and is the date used in our automated email alerts.

Publication year in the search interface above is unchanged and allows searches to be limited by the year in which the original article was published.

Stoptober

Smoking is the greatest single cause of preventable illness and premature death in the UK. To coincide with the launch of Stoptober, we highlight key systematic reviews available on DARE that examine the effectiveness of interventions designed to help smokers quit. Read more...

The future of health care for older people

A new report envisions a future in which the care of elderly patients currently delivered in NHS hospitals is provided in homes and care homes.

The Future Hospital Commission (FHC) concluded that hospital doctors should work as part of multidisciplinary teams - including GPs, district nurses, mental-health and social-care professionals - in order to provide “seamless” integrated care. Read more...

Promoting cycling in England

This week David Cameron announced a major drive to promote cycling in England’s major cities and National Parks, supported by a £94m injection of public money.

£77m will split between Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford and Norwich to help improve existing cycle networks and pay for new ones. In addition, four national parks – New Forest, Peak District, South Downs and Dartmoor – will receive £17m between them. The Prime Minister said the government 'wants to make it easier and safer for people who already cycle as well as encouraging far more people to take it up'. Read more...

Late nights, bright lights, and hopeless hamsters: how to relieve the misery of shift work

The health and well-being of night-shift workers became the focus of discussion for several media sources this week, though strangely this concern was prompted by a research article on the moods of hamsters.

The research from Ohio State University indicated that hamsters exposed to blue or white light at night displayed more ‘depressive’ behaviours than those kept in the dark or under red light. Read more...

Free health checks for the over 40s

This week, several sources reported that free health checks could save 650 lives per year in England. These reports refer to a government drive to boost the uptake of the NHS Health Checks programme for people aged 40 to 74. The aim of the programme is to screen all 15 million eligible people for diabetes, chronic kidney disease, chronic lung disease, cardiovascular disease, and stroke risk by 2018/19. Read more...

The Olympic legacy for health

The London 2012 Olympic Games were back in the news this week, with government economists reporting a £9.9 billion boost to UK trade and investment from hosting the Games.

Regardless of the purported economic benefits, it seems the much anticipated Olympic legacy for health has yet to be established. Read more...

What can we do about childhood obesity?

Childhood obesity was back in the headlines this week.

A worrying analysis of government public health data from over a million children in England showed a significant upward trend in the prevalence of obesity among 10 and 11 year olds over the last six years and found evidence of widening health inequalities. In fact, children from deprived areas are almost twice as likely to be obese than those in affluent areas.

Here we highlight the latest evidence available on DARE. Read more…

Commentary request service

We are changing the way we prioritise critical appraisal of systematic reviews and economic evaluations that appear on the CRD databases.

The CRD databases remain the best place to find systematic reviews and economic evaluations, but from now on we will focus critical appraisal on the evidence that is most relevant to key NHS priorities. Read more...

Hydroxyethyl starch more harm than good

In February 2013, two good quality systematic reviews were published that questioned the use of hydroxyethyl starch administration in critically ill patients. Hydroxyethyl starches are routinely used for volume resuscitation in clinical practice despite a lack of convincing evidence of benefit, and a safety profile that has been increasingly questioned. Read more...

World Diabetes Day 2012

To coincide with World Diabetes Day on 14 November, we highlight the latest evidence available on DARE that examines self-monitoring of blood glucose in people with type 2 diabetes who are not using insulin. Read more...

Stoptober

World Breastfeeding Week 2012

To coincide with World Breastfeeding Week 2012, we highlight two recent systematic reviews available on DARE that examine the role of support for women who are considering or already are breastfeeding their child. Read more...

No Smoking Day

Smoking is the greatest single cause of preventable illness and premature death in the UK. To coincide with No Smoking Day we highlight key systematic reviews available on DARE that examine the effectiveness of interventions designed to help smokers quit. Read more...