Cochrane 20 years on: The Cochrane Neuromuscular Disease Group

Abstract

The Cochrane Collaboration (CC) celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2013 and the Cochrane Neuromuscular Disease Group (CNMDG) its fifteenth. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews is an internet-based resource of systematic reviews. The CNMDG has contributed over 100 Cochrane Systematic Reviews (CSRs) of interventions in neuromuscular disease, with almost 40 in preparative pre-publication. Over 100 potential titles still await author groups to tackle them. Cochrane Systematic Reviews not only provide the best summary of the evidence for individual interventions for diseases, but have contributed high quality and valuable data to international neuromuscular guidelines, each review coming at 1/10th of the cost of a NICE guideline. This efficient but high quality contribution is due both to the systematized Cochrane methods and the invaluable participation of over 26,000 Cochrane volunteer authors. Without Cochrane Systematic Reviews some questions about interventions for neuromuscular diseases would still remain ‘unanswered’. The CNMDG has made substantial contributions to literature in specific topics areas of both peripheral nerve and muscle disease. In Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) one meta-analysis demonstrates the ineffectiveness of steroids and more importantly their potential harms, not evident from individual trials [1]. Systematized international multilingual searches for other treatments for GBS have uncovered potential new treatments requiring trial, such as the extract of Tripterygium wilfordii [2]. In Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy a meta-analysis of data from 249 children confirmed effectiveness of glucocorticoid corticosteroids in stabilizing muscle strength and improving function [3], and this is now considered the