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Welcome to NHS Evidence - women's health

"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves,
or we know where we can find information upon it."

--Samuel Johnson 

Knowledge must not only be created by the formidable efforts of researchers, but also be systematically organised and made available to clinicians who need it. NHS Evidence - women's health has been developed to serve the information needs of healthcare professionals involved in the care of women. It is however freely accessible by all, including our resourceful patients. Those wishing less detail may find NHS Choices helpful.

NHS Evidence - women's health Annual Evidence Updates

Annual Evidence Updates aim to highlight the best current evidence for selected healthcare topics. Annual Evidence Updates consist of the good quality evidence from a search of research evidence on a particular topic over a 12 month period, plus user-friendly summaries written by relevant experts, and links to guidelines, secondary research and primary research, if applicable. All information included in Annual Evidence Updates has been subject to rigorous selection criteria.

To access previous NHS Evidence - women's health Annual Evidence Updates please select the following link: AEUs

NHS Evidence - women's health

Provided by NICE, NHS Evidence is a new service which will develop, enhance and expand the services that were previously provided by the National Library for Health (NLH). The NLH and its specialist libraries became part of NHS Evidence on 1 April 2009. Release 1 of the NHS Evidence portal and search engine went live on 30 April 2009 at www.evidence.nhs.uk.

As part of ongoing developments, the specialist libraries have changed their names and are, as a group, called specialist collections. This individual collection is now ’NHS Evidence – women's health’, and you will continue to be able to access all the content and features. The existing URL for the collection will remain for now, but is likely to change later in the year as the specialist collections become fully integrated with the NHS Evidence portal.   

For more information about NHS Evidence, please follow this link to the NHS Evidence website: http://www.evidence.nhs.uk/AboutUs.aspx

UK Database of Uncertainties about the Effects of Treatments

The NHS Evidence - women's health specialist collection has recently begun contributing uncertainties regarding treatment effects to UK DUETs (the UK Database of Uncertainties about the effects of Treatments). Please select the following link for more information about DUETs: UK DUETs

Topics currently being compiled are:

Endometriosis
Uncertainties relating to treatments for endometriosis can be submitted via our general DUETs submission form. To submit an uncertainty please visit submit an uncertainty


Hypertension in pregnancy
We are keen to receive treatment uncertainties regarding hypertension in pregnancy from clinicians/patients/carers. Please select the following link to submit an uncertainty to us: submit an uncertainty

 

Pregnancy and childbirth
If you would like to suggest any uncertainties regarding pregnancy and childbirth, please select the following link to submit an uncertainty to us: submit an uncertainty

 

NHS Evidence - women's health What's New

The effects of Diane-35 and metformin in treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome - an updated systematic review
This DARE review assessed whether Diane-35 could improve the treatment for polycystic ovary syndrome, with and without metformin.
The effectiveness of exercise in the management of post-natal depression - systematic review and meta-analysis
Post-natal depression (PND) is a serious mental health problem that may be reduced by exercise. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in England have recommended that health professions should consider exercise as a treatment for PND. Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Data sources involved in the study are Cochrane Library (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation Index, CINAHL and SPORTDiscus. Review methods. Selection criteria are RCTs and quasi-RCTs that compared any type of exercise intervention with other treatments or no treatment in women with PND. Database searches and abstracts were reviewed independently by two authors. The Delphi criteria were used to assess the quality of included studies. Data were abstracted by two reviewers. Data synthesis is meta-analysis. Main outcome measure is post-natal depression.
Teriparatide in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis - systematic review
The objective of this DARE review was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of teriparatide (recombinant human parathyroid hormone 1-34) for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis.

Women's Health - Patent and Clinical Trial News

WO 2009 136332 A2 Automatic ultrasonic measurement of nuchal fold translucency
This application briefly describes a method for measuring nuchal translucency using an ultrasound image processing system.
US 2009 0287223 A1 Real-time 3-D ultrasound guidance of surgical robotics
This patent application relates to the use of real-time 3D ultrasound during laparoscopic procedures as a direct guidance tool for robotic surgery.
WO 2009 140661 A1 Method of preventing premature delivery
This patent application relates to a method to prevent premature birth and miscarriage or prolong pregnancy by administering relaxin.

Women's Health - International News

Behind International Rankings of Infant Mortality
This US National Center for Health Statistics report outlines US infant mortality statistics from the national, linked, birth/infant death data set. The report focuses on a number of areas including a comparison of the two key factors that determine infant mortality rate: gestational-age specific, infant mortality rates and the percentage of preterm births.
Women and health
Published by WHO, this report reviews the available evidence regarding the health of women throughout the world throughout their lives. Gender and socioeconomic inequalities that affect health are considered, as well as specific issues relating to the burden of diseases in different age groups: young girls and adolescents, reproductive age women and older women.
Infertility treatments for women
The Women’s Health Council in Ireland has recently published an evidence-based review of the currently available infertility treatments for women. It provides a comprehensive overview of pharmacological interventions, surgical treatments, assisted reproductive technologies and Napro technology.

NHS Evidence - women's health specialist collection development

The NHS Evidence - women's health specialist collection is constantly developing in response to newly published resources, changing demand and to feedback from users.

The specialist collection now contains most of the core content material produced, commissioned or licensed by the NHS. We are working towards producing Annual Evidence Updates (AEUs) for each of the main topic areas in women's health and hope to introduce some other new developments soon.

We welcome all feedback from users as we are keen to ensure that the specialist collection reflects the needs of those who use it!

NHS Evidence - women's health has been created by a team of clinicians and information scientists at the Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Oxford. Development takes place under the guidance of a National Reference Group containing representative end users.

Mr. Stephen Kennedy         Mrs. Shona Kirtley
Clinical Lead                        Project Co-ordinator/Information Scientist