Methodological challenges in systematic reviews of mHealth interventions: Survey and consensus-based recommendations.

OBJECTIVE: Mobile Health (mHealth) refers to using mobile devices to support health. This study aimed to identify specific methodological challenges in systematic reviews (SRs) of mHealth interventions and to develop guidance for addressing selected challenges. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Two-phase participatory research project. First, we sent an online survey to corresponding authors of SRs of mHealth interventions. On a five-category scale, survey respondents rated how challenging they found 24 methodological aspects in SRs of mHealth interventions compared to non-mHealth intervention SRs. Second, a subset of survey respondents participated in an online workshop to discuss recommendations to address the most challenging methodological aspects identified in the survey. Finally, consensus-based recommendations were developed based on the workshop discussion and subsequent interaction via email with the workshop participants and two external mHealth SR authors. RESULTS: We contacted 953 corresponding authors of mHealth intervention SRs, of whom 50 (5 %) completed the survey. All the respondents identified at least one methodological aspect as more or much more challenging in mHealth intervention SRs than in non-mHealth SRs. A median of 11 (IQR 7.25-15) out of 24 aspects (46 %) were rated as more or much more challenging. Those most frequently reported were: defining intervention intensity and components (85 %), extracting mHealth intervention details (71 %), dealing with dynamic research with evolving interventions (70 %), assessing intervention integrity (69 %), defining the intervention (66 %) and maintaining an updated review (65 %). Eleven survey respondents participated in the workshop (five had authored more than three mHealth SRs). Eighteen consensus-based recommendations were developed to address issues related to mHealth intervention integrity and to keep mHealth SRs up to date. CONCLUSION: mHealth SRs present specific methodological challenges compared to non-mHealth interventions, particularly related to intervention integrity and keeping SRs current. Our recommendations for addressing these challenges can improve mHealth SRs.

[Implications on the scientific production of COVID-19.] / Consecuencias en la producción científica de la COVID-19.

The impact and the universality of the pandemic by SARS-CoV-2 has caused the need to have information quickly and accessible for the benefit of decision-making among healthcare professionals. In 10 months the scientific production on this new coronavirus has exceeded the number of 66 thousand articles, according to the LitCovid database, created by the National Library of Medicine, doubling and tripling every few weeks. This same urgency has characterized some of the main features of this voluminous production, in addition to its continuous and exponential growth, such as greater dissemination in open access and preprint repositories, a certain acceleration in the manuscript review process by editorials and an abundance of opinion articles, recommendations or comments compared to a smaller number of original articles with clinical data from large groups of patients.

El impacto y la universalidad de la pandemia de SARS-CoV-2 han provocado en el mundo entero la necesidad de disponer de información científica de una forma rápida y accesible para la correcta toma de decisiones entre los profesionales sanitarios. Por ello, en 10 meses la producción científica sobre este nuevo coronavirus ha superado la cifra de los 66.000 artículos, según la base de datos LitCovid creada por la National Library of Medicine, duplicándose y triplicándose la cantidad cada pocas semanas. Esta misma urgencia ha caracterizado algunos de los rasgos principales que han definido esta voluminosa producción, además de su continuo y exponencial crecimiento, como son una mayor difusión en acceso abierto y en repositorios de preprints, una cierta aceleración en el proceso de revisión de manuscritos por parte de las editoriales y una abundancia de artículos de opinión, recomendaciones o comentarios frente a un menor número de artículos originales con datos clínicos de grandes grupos de pacientes.

El bibliotecario como coautor de revisiones y síntesis de evidencia / Librarian as co-author of reviews and evidence synthesis

No disponible

Role of nutrition in the development and prevention of age-related hearing loss: A scoping review.

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is a major and increasingly prevalent health problem worldwide, causing disability and social isolation in the people who present it. This impairment is caused by genetic and environmental factors. Nutritional status has been identified as a related risk associated with hearing loss (HL). This scoping review aimed to characterize the links between HL and nutritional status. PubMed, Embase, Cochrane and Scopus databases were searched up to December 2019. Studies examining the relation between nutrition and dietary habits and HL were included. After screening 3510 citations, 22 publications were selected for inclusion in the current review, all of which were published between 2010 and 2019. Diets rich in saturated fats and cholesterol have deleterious effects on hearing that could be prevented by lower consumption. Conversely, greater consumption of fruit and vegetables, and of polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3) and anti-oxidants in the form of vitamins A, C, and E, prevent the development of ARHL. The current literature suggests a possible association between nutritional status and hearing loss. More studies are needed to better characterize the clinical consequences of this association.