Open AccessEvidence-Based Pain Management: Building on the Foundations of Cochrane Systematic Reviews
Author(s) -
Dominic Aldington,
Christopher Eccleston
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2018.304745
Subject(s) - medicine , systematic review , psychological intervention , cochrane library , palliative care , medline , alternative medicine , evidence based medicine , intervention (counseling) , chronic pain , randomized controlled trial , pain medicine , scientific evidence , evidence based practice , intensive care medicine , family medicine , physical therapy , psychiatry , nursing , surgery , pathology , philosophy , political science , law , epistemology , anesthesiology
We discuss the history and current status of evidence-based medicine for the prevention and treatment of acute and chronic pain as it has developed in the Cochrane Collaboration's Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care Review Group.To date, the Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care Review Group has published 277 reviews and a further 11 reviews of systematic reviews summarizing the evidence for interventions. The Cochrane Library has readily available high-quality summaries of evidence of pharmacological interventions especially for postsurgical pain but also for chronic musculoskeletal and neuropathic pain. The library covers all forms of intervention, not only pharmacological.The world of evidence-based medicine is changing: most historical trials have been entered into reviews, but the evidence is still not well disseminated and needs to be better translated into decision support. Evidence should be at the heart of policymaking. Much has been achieved in the past 21 years, but there are no grounds for complacency.