Cochrane reviews
and comments on
Cochrane reviews
Department
of Public
Health
University of Helsinki,
Finland
harri.hemila@helsinki.fi
http://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila
Oct 18, 202
-
-
Cochrane
reviews
on vitamin C
- The
common cold
- Pneumonia
- Tetanus
- Various problems and flaws in
other Cochrane reviews
-
Cochrane
reviews
on vitamin C
The
common cold
On
Oct 2022, this review had the Altmetric score 3382, which was
position 1439 out of all the 22,246,158 outputs, and 5th of the
Cochrane reviews:
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/AltmetricVitC_Colds_2022Oct.htm#score
On June 2020, this review had the Altmetric score 2793, which was position 659 out of all the 15,217,902 outputs:
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/AltmetricVitC_Colds_2020Jun.htm#score
On February 2020, this review had Altmetric score 1944, which was the highest of 10900 Cochrane reviews:
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/AltmetricVitC_Colds_2020Feb.htm#score
On February 2018, this review had Altmetric score 1359, which was the highest of 8855 Cochrane reviews:
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/AltmetricVitC_Colds_2018Feb.htm#score
Hemilä H, Chalker EB.
Vitamin C for preventing and
treating the common cold.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev
2013; CD000980
https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD000980.pub4
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc8078152/
https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/225864
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/CC/2013_Coch_Colds_CD000980.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23440782
References to the review and updated 2016 version:
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/CC
Commentaries on ‘Vitamin C
for Preventing and Treating the Common Cold’ with a response from the
review author
[Reply to Bax, Spee and Madderom].
[Reply to Shamseer and Vohra].
Evidence-Based
Child Health: A Cochrane Review Journal 2008;3:724-728
https://doi.org/10.1002/ebch.261
https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/228088
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/H/2008_L_EBCH.pdf
Summary in
French
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/French.html
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/French.pdf
German
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/German.html
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/German.pdf
Spanish
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/CD000980_es_abstract.pdf
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Spanish.html
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Spanish.pdf
Portuguese
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Portuguese.html
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Portuguese.pdf
Polish
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Polski.html
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Polski.pdf
Russian
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Russian.html
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Russian.pdf
Chinese mandarin
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Chinese_1.html
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Chinese_1.pdf
Chinese old
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Chinese_2.html
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Chinese_2.pdf
Japanese
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Japanese.html
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Japanese.pdf
Korean
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Korean.html
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Korean.pdf
Tamili
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Tamili.html
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Tamili.pdf
Malay
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Malay.html
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/Malay.pdf
Pneumonia
Three controlled trials have found
significant decrease in the incidence of pneumonia and two found
treatment benefit for pneumonia patients.
Hemilä H,
Louhiala P.
Vitamin C for preventing and treating pneumonia.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2013;
CD005532
https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.cd005532.pub3
https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/225862
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/CP/2013_Coch_Pneu_CD005532.pdf
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23925826/
References
to the review and update 2016:
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/CP/
Summary in
French
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/PFrench.html
Spanish
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/CD005532_es_abstract.pdf
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/PSpanish.html
Chinese
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/PChinese.html
Japanese
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/PJapanese.html
Korean
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/PKorean.html
Tetanus
Hemilä
H, Koivula T.
Vitamin C for preventing and treating tetanus.
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2013;11:CD006665
https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD006665.pub3
https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/225863
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/CT/2013_Coch_Tetanus_CD006665.pdf
References to the review:
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/CT/
Summary in
French
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/TFrench.html
Spanish
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/CD006665_es_abstract.pdf
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/TSpanish.html
Japanese
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/TJapanese.html
Korean
https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila/TKorean.html
Various problems and flaws in
other Cochrane reviews
Cochrane has not consistently followed the COPE guidelines - THERE WAS NO RESPONSE TO THIS CRITICISM
Eur J Clin Invest 2020
https://doi.org/10.1111/eci.13216
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32077498##########################################
Flaws in a 2020 Cochrane review on vitamin C and pneumonia:
Hemilä H, Chalker E.
Commentary: Vitamin C supplementation for prevention and treatment of pneumonia.
Front Med 2021
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2020.595988
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc7854566/
##########################################
Pointing
out errors in the Cochrane review and a meta-analysis of 3
exercise-induced asthma trials
The meta-analysis was expanded to
BMJ Open paper in 2013
The
Cochrane review on vitamin C and asthma misled readers for a decade
from 2001 to 2013
Hemilä
H. Feedback [on the Cochrane review “vitamin C supplementation for
asthma” (2009) by Kaur B, Rowe BH, Stovold E]
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews CD000993 [Feedback 24 March
2009]
https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/38500
https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.1280.3364
The above comment was submitted in 2009,
but the authors replied no earlier than in 2012.
Furthermore, the reply was full of
errors:
Hemilä H
Vitamin C and exercise-induced
bronchoconstriction:
further problems in the Cochrane review
"vitamin C for asthma" (2013).
Unpublished commentary
http://hdl.handle.net/10138/40816
The
Cochrane review on vitamin C and asthma misled readers for a decade
from 2001 to 2013.
See
the PubMed records of the Cohrane review on vitamin C and asthma from
2001 to 2013:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11687089/
2001
https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD000993
ss
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15266435/
2004
https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD000993.pub2
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19160185/
2009
https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD000993.pub3
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24155047/
2013 Withdrawal of the
Cochrane review
https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD000993.pub4
##########################################
Hemilä H
Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) shortens the duration of influenza-like illness
by 13% (95% CI: 8% to 18%)
[Feedback on the Cochrane review “Neuraminidase inhibitors for
preventing and treating influenza in healthy adults and children” by
Jefferson T et al.]
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews CD008965 [Feedback 6 May 2013]
https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/42534
https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD008965.pub3
##########################################
Problems in the 2011 version of Cochrane review:
Hemilä H.
The zinc for the common cold review by
Singh and Das has a number of problems which should be considered when
the review is next time updated.
[Feedback on the Cochrane review “Zinc
for the common cold review” by Singh and Das]. 2011.
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews CD001364 [Feedback 5 September 2011]
Repository of the University of Helsinki
https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/39188
https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.4688.2081
Problems in the 2013 version of Cochrane review:
Hemilä H.
Concerns about unattributed
copying of text and data, and about numerous other problems in the
Cochrane review “Zinc for the Common Cold” by Singh M, Das RR (2013). 2015
Repository of the University of Helsinki
https://hdl.handle.net/10138/153180
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6394116
The above comment led to the withdrawal of the Cochrane review, see:
https://www.cochrane.org/CD001364/ARI_zinc-common-cold
https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD001364.pub5
The withdrawal of the Cochrane review also led to the retraction of a JAMA summary of the Cochrane review:
Hemilä H.
Common Cold Treatment Using Zinc.
JAMA. 2015;314(7):730.
https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2015.8174
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26284728
The above JAMA letter pointed out problems in an article by Das and
Singh, which was a summary of their Cochrane review.
As their Cochrane review was withdrawn, their JAMA article was retracted:
https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2016.18134
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28027374
More detailed problems in the Das and Singh JAMA article were described in a longer document:
https://hdl.handle.net/10138/153617
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6393782
##########################################
Hemilä H
Antioxidants are not identical and their effects are not uniform over
the population.
[Feedback on the Cochrane review “Antioxidant supplements for
prevention of mortality in healthy participants and patients with
various diseases” by Bjelakovic G et al.]
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews CD007176 [Feedback 24 August
2009]
https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/136201
https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.4426.0641
https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD007176.pub2