Cardiovascular effects of calcium supplementation

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Systematic review and meta-analysis of the sero-epidemiological association between Epstein Barr virus and multiple sclerosis

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Systematic review and meta-analysis of the sero-epidemiological association between Epstein-Barr virus and rheumatoid arthritis

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Cynthia Fraser for helping run the literature search, Dr Neil Basu for providing advice on search terms for rheumatoid arthritis and to Xueli Jia, Katie Bannister and Kubra Boza for their help with foreign language papers. The authors would also like to thank the University of Aberdeen librarians at the Foresterhill medical library for their help in locating articles used for this systematic review and meta-analysis.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Systematic review of the use of financial incentives in treatments for obesity and overweight

Nine studies met the criteria for inclusion in this systematic review of randomized controlled trials of treatments for obesity and overweight involving the use of financial incentives, with reported follow-up of at least 1 year. All included trials were of behavioural obesity treatments. Justification of sample size and blinding procedure were not mentioned in any study. Attrition was well described in three studies and no study was analysed on an intention to treat basis. Participants were mostly women recruited through media advertisements. Mean age ranged from 35.7 to 52.8 years, and mean body mass index from 29.3 to 31.8 kg m−2. Results from meta-analysis showed no significant effect of use of financial incentives on weight loss or maintenance at 12 months and 18 months. Further sub-analysis by mode of delivery and amount of incentives although also non-statistically significant were suggestive of very weak trends in favour of use of amounts greater than 1.2% personal disposable income, rewards for behaviour change rather than for weight, rewards based on group performance rather than for individual performance and rewards delivered by non-psychologists rather than delivered by psychologists.The Health Services Research Unit is funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Executive Health Department. The views expressed here are those of the authors. Alison Avenell is funded by a Career Scientist Award from the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Executive Health Departmen

Effect of Calcium Supplements on Risk of Myocardial Infarction and Cardiovascular Events: Meta-Analysis

Objective: To investigate whether calcium supplements increase the risk of cardiovascular events. Osteoporosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in older people. Calcium supplements margin- ally reduce the risk of fracture, and most guidelines recommend adequate calcium intake as an integral part of the prevention or treatment of osteoporosis. Consequently, calcium supplements are commonly used by people over the age of 50. Observational stu- dies suggest that high calcium intake might protect against vascular disease, and the findings are consis- tent with those of interventional studies of calcium sup- plements thatshow improvementin some vascular risk factors. In contrast, calcium supplements accelerate vascular calcification and increase mortality in patients with renal failure, in both dialysis and predialysis populations. Furthermore, a five year randomised controlled trial of calcium supplements in healthy older women, in which cardiovascular events were prespecified as secondary end points, recently reported possible increases in rates of myocardial infarction and cardiovascular events in women allocated to calcium. We carried out a meta-analysis of cardiovascular events in randomised trials of cal- cium supplements

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the sero-epidemiological association between Epstein-Barr virus and systemic lupus erythematosus

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Xueli Jia and Canan Spengler for translating Chinese and Turkish papers, respectively. Funding The Health Services Research Unit is funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorate.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Effect of calcium supplements on risk of myocardial infarction and cardiovascular events : meta-analysis

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Tackling Male Obesity: the ROMEO (Review Of MEn Obesity) study

Background: Male obesity is particularly problematic in that men are less likely than women to realise they have a weight problem and are also less likely to engage in weight reduction programmes. Little is known about the most effective ways to engage obese men with obesity services in order to manage weight loss successfully. Aim: Funded by the National Institute of Health Research Health Technology Assessment Programme, theROMEO (Review Of MEn and Obesity) project is an on-going integrated series of five quantitative and qualitative systematic reviews of the evidence associated with management strategies for treating obesity in men, and how to engage men in these obesity services Methods: Studies included in the review are men 16 years or over, with no upper age limit. Ideally all groups of participants in studies must have a mean or median BMI of 30kg/m2. However, in most qualitative papers, BMI is not clearly stated. We are aiming to find out not only ‘what works’ for men in terms of weight management, but also ‘for which men, and under what circumstances’. Our pragmatic approach to this mixed methods evidence synthesis is informed by methods such as realist synthesis, thematic synthesis, framework synthesis, and analytical approaches developed from methods of inquiry such as grounded theory. Findings: We will present initial findings from the qualitative arm of the project. Conclusions: Our work will identify the existing evidence with which to develop guidance for the NHS onthe subject of men and obesity management. The individual reviews and integrated report will also provide guidance on whether further research is needed to develop better methods for engaging and retaining men in obesity interventions

Factors Influencing the Participation of Older People in Clinical Trials : Data Analysis from the MAVIS Trial

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