Systematic reviews and lifelong diseases

摘要

A systematic review suggested that there was an increase in antibiotic resistance in patients treated with one compared with two antibiotics Systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials are often unable to provide adequate information about long term outcomes, which are important for people with chronic diseases A tension exists in randomised controlled trials between evaluating short term outcomes, which may indicate a need to change practice, and continuing the trial for sufficient time to evaluate long term outcomes Databases specialising in a particular disease can play a part in capturing information on patients prospectively, provided the clinical questions are established from the outset To adequately evaluate benefits and risks of treatment for chronic diseases, systematic reviews should consider data from observational studies as well as from randomised controlled trials.