Disclosure of researcher allegiance in meta-analyses and randomised controlled trials of psychotherapy: a systematic appraisal

Psychotherapy research may suffer from factors such as a researchers own therapy allegiance. The aim of this study was to evaluate if researcher allegiance (RA) was reported in meta-analyses and randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of psychotherapeutic treatments.Systematic approach using meta-analyses of different types of psychotherapies.Medline, PsycINFO and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.We evaluated meta-analyses of RCTs regarding various types of psychotherapies. Meta-analyses were eligible if they included at least one RCT with RA and they were published in journals in Medline, PsycINFO and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews with an impact factor larger than 5.We identified 146 eligible meta-analyses that synthesised data from a total of 1198 unique RCTs. Only 25 of the meta-analyses (17.2%) reported allegiance and only 6 (4.1%) used a proper method to control its effect. Of the 1198 eligible primary RCTs, 793 (66.3%) were allegiant. Authors in 25 of these 793 RCTs (3.2%) reported their allegiance while only one study (0.2%) controlled for its effect.The vast majority among a group of published meta-analyses and RCTs of psychotherapeutic treatments seldom reported and evaluated the allegiance effect. The results of the present study highlight a major lack of this information in meta-analyses and their included studies, though meta-analyses perform slightly better than RCTs. Stringent guidelines should be adopted by journals in order to improve reporting and attenuate possible effects of RA in future research

Predictive association between immigration status and chronic pain in the general population: results from the SwePain cohort.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies suggest that immigration may influence the experience of pain. OBJECTIVE: This population-based study examines whether immigration status is associated with chronic pain (CP), chronic widespread pain (CWSP), and severe CP at a two-year follow-up. We also tested mediation by mood status (i.e., anxiety and depression). METHODS: 15, 563 participants from a representative stratified random sample of 34,000 individuals living in south-eastern Sweden completed a postal survey, during 2013-2015, that included the following data: immigration status; presence of CP (pain lasting at least 3 months) and CWSP (a modified classification of widespread pain for use in epidemiological studies); severity of CP based on a numeric rating scale; and depression, anxiety, economic situation, and sociodemographic information. We applied logistic regressions using the generalized estimating equations (GEE), with Swedish-born as the reference group and path analyses models. RESULTS: Compared to the Swedish-born participants (n = 14,093;90%), the immigrants (n = 1470;10%) had an elevated risk of all pain outcomes (CP: odds ratio [OR] = 1.18; 95% confidence interval [CI = 1.04-1.33, CWSP: OR = 1.39; 95% CI: 1.15-1.69 and severe CP: 1.51; 95% CI: 1.23-1.87) after adjustments. Path analyses showed that baseline age, immigrant status, and financial hardship had a significant influence on chronic pain outcomes at follow-up with baseline mood status as the mediator. Immigration status was also associated with age and financial hardship. CONCLUSION: Immigrants may have increased risk of chronic pain, widespread pain, and severe pain and this risk is mediated by mood status. Targeted interventions better tailored to the socio-economic and psychological status of immigrants with chronic pain are warranted

Minimalkonsens in Nairobi: Ein Scheitern der Doha-Runde gefährdet die WTO

Nach vierzehn Jahren Verhandlungen im Rahmen der Doha-Runde ist auch auf der 10. Ministerkonferenz in Nairobi bei den grundlegenden Themen keine Einigung in Sicht. Um ihre handelspolitischen Interessen durchzusetzen, haben sich die großen Handelsnationen bereits mehr und mehr mega-regionalen Abkommen wie TTIP und TPP zugewandt. Doch scheitert die Doha-Runde endgültig, ist auch die WTO als Hüterin des Welthandels in Gefahr

Summarising data and factors associated with COVID-19 related conspiracy theories in the first year of the pandemic: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.

Conspiracy theories can have particularly harmful effects by negatively shaping health-related behaviours. A significant number of COVID-19 specific conspiracy theories emerged in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic outbreak. The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature on conspiracy theories related to COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic (2020), to identify their prevalence, their determinants and their public health consequences. A comprehensive literature search was carried out in PubMed and PsycINFO to detect all studies examining any conspiracy theory related to COVID-19 between January 1st 2020, and January 10th 2021. Forty-three studies were included with a total of 61,809 participants. Between 0.4 and 82.7% of participants agreed with at least one conspiracy belief. Certain sociodemographic factors (young age, female gender, being non-white, lower socioeconomic status), psychological aspects (pessimism, blaming others, anger) and other qualities (political conservatism, religiosity, mistrust in science and using social media as source of information) were associated with increased acceptance of conspiracy theories. Conspiracy beliefs led to harmful health-related behaviours and posed a serious public health threat. Large-scale collaborations between governments and healthcare organizations are needed to curb the spread of conspiracy theories and their adverse consequences

A follow-up study to a randomised control trial to investigate the perceived impact of mindfulness on academic performance in university students

1 Objectives Mindfulness research in education has focussed on its potential to support student well-being. There is a paucity of research on the interaction between mindfulness and academic performance. This qualitative study builds on results of the largest randomised control trial of mindfulness in education to date which suggested mindfulness can have mixed effects on academic performance. A more in-depth understanding of the relationship between mindfulness and academic performance is therefore needed to ascertain if, how and for which students, mindfulness facilitates academic performance. The objective of the study was to capture students’ perceptions of the impact of mindfulness on their academic performance. 2 Methods Thematic analysis was applied to data obtained by six in-depth interviews from three higher and three lower performing undergraduate participants in the mindfulness intervention arm of the Mindful Student Study randomised control trial. 3 Results Three themes emerged, whereby five students described mindfulness having a positive impact on their academic performance. One student felt mindfulness had an initial negative impact on academic performance. All students felt mindfulness enhanced self-awareness and self-regulation of their thinking, feelings and behaviours, and our analysis suggests students perceived these processes underpinned the effect of mindfulness on academic performance 4 Conclusion Differences in students’ psychological distress and study habits may determine the differing initial impact of mindfulness on academic performance

Incidence of capillary leak syndrome as an adverse effect of drugs in cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Capillary leak syndrome (CLS) is a rare disease with profound vascular leakage, which can be associated with a high mortality. There have been several reports on CLS as an adverse effect of anti-cancer agents and therapy, but the incidence of CLS according to the kinds of anti-cancer drugs has not been systemically evaluated. Thus, the aim of our study was to comprehensively meta-analyze the incidence of CLS by different types of cancer treatment or after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). We searched the literatures (inception to July 2018) and among 4612 articles, 62 clinical trials (studies) were eligible. We extracted the number of patients with CLS, total cancer patients, name of therapeutic agent and dose, and type of cancer. We performed a meta-analysis to estimate the summary effects with 95% confidence interval and between-study heterogeneity. The reported incidence of CLS was categorized by causative drugs and BMT. The largest number of studies reported on CLS incidence during interleukin-2 (IL-2) treatment (n = 18), which yielded a pooled incidence of 34.7% by overall estimation and 43.9% by meta-analysis. The second largest number of studies reported on anti-cluster of differentiation (anti-CD) agents (n = 13) (incidence of 33.9% by overall estimation and 35.6% by meta-analysis) or undergoing BMT (n = 7 (21.1% by overall estimation and 21.7% by meta-analysis). Also, anti-cancer agents, including IL-2 + imatinib mesylate (three studies) and anti-CD22 monoclinal antibodies (mAb) (four studies), showed a dose-dependent increase in the incidence of CLS. Our study is the first to provide an informative overview on the incidence rate of reported CLS patients as an adverse event of anti-cancer treatment. This meta-analysis can lead to a better understanding of CLS and assist physicians in identifying the presence of CLS early in the disease course to improve the outcome and optimize management

Physical activity, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt and death among individuals with mental or other medical disorders: A systematic review of observational studies

A growing body of research has demonstrated the potential role for physical activity as an intervention across mental and other medical disorders. However, the association between physical activity and suicidal ideation, attempts, and deaths has not been systematically appraised in clinical samples. We conducted a PRISMA 2020-compliant systematic review searching MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO for observational studies investigating the influence of physical activity on suicidal behavior up to December 6, 2023. Of 116 eligible full-text studies, seven (n = 141691) were included. Depression was the most frequently studied mental condition (43%, k = 3), followed by chronic pain as the most common other medical condition (29%, k = 2). Two case-control studies examined suicide attempts and found an association between physical activity and a reduced frequency of such attempts. However, in studies examining suicidal ideation (k = 3) or suicide deaths (k = 2), no consistent associations with physical activity were observed. Overall, our systematic review found that physical activity may be linked to a lower frequency of suicide attempts in non-prospective studies involving individuals with mental disorders

Associations between mental and physical conditions in children and adolescents: An umbrella review

We mapped the evidence on the type and strength of associations between a broad range of mental and physical conditions in children and adolescents, by carrying out an umbrella review, i.e., a quantitative synthesis of previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses. We also assessed to which extent the links between mental and physical conditions vary across disorders or, by contrast, are transdiagnostic. Based on a pre-established protocol, we retained 45 systematic reviews/meta-analyses, encompassing around 12.5 million of participants. In analyses limited to the most rigorous estimates, we found evidence for the following associations: ADHD-asthma, ADHD-obesity, and depression-asthma. A transdiagnostic association was confirmed between asthma and anxiety/ASD/depression/bipolar disorder, between obesity and ADHD/ASD/depression, and between dermatitis and ASD/ADHD. We conclude that obesity and allergic conditions are likely to be associated with mental disorders in children and adolescents. Our results can help clinicians explore potential links between mental and physical conditions in children/adolescent and provide a road map for future studies aimed at shading light on the underlying factors