Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of trimetazidine (TMZ) for chronic congestive heart failure. Methods We searched The Cochrane Library (Issue 3, 2006), MEDLINE (1990-2006), EMBASE (1990-2004), and the Chinese Biomedicine Database (1990- 2006 ) for parallel group randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cross-over design trials comparing TMZ and placebo or open controls for patients with heart failure.We used The Cochrane Collaboration’s RevMan 4.2 software for data analyses. Results Four RCTs and two cross-over design trials were included. Meta-analyses showed that: compared with the control group, TMZ may improve the NYHA cardiac functional grade (RR 0.85, 95%CI 0.76 to 0.95), increase the total exercise time (WMD 51.40 seconds, 95%CI 15.56 to 87.25), the maximal metabolic equivalents (WMD 0.82, 95%CI 0.28 to 1.37), and the ejection fraction (WMD 7.29%, 95%CI 6.28 to 8.31), but may decrease the left ventricular end-diastolic volume (WMD –12.19 ml, 95%CI –15.29 to –9.09), the left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (WMD –6.05 mm, 95%CI –7.10 to –4.99), the left ventricular end-systolic volume (WMD –16.94 ml, 95%CI –20.34 to –13.55), the left ventricular end-systolic diameter (WMD –5.42 mm, 95%CI –5.98 to –4.86), and the serum brain natriuretic peptide (WMD –239.59 pg/ml, 95%CI –276.53 to –202.65). TMZ may also improve the quality of life (WMD 12.36, 95%CI 5.16 to 19.55). Conclusions TMZ plus standard medical therapy has a beneficial effect on the indices of cardiac function, and may also improve the patient’s quality of life. However, because available RCTs for this systematic review are too small and poor quality, (mainly focusing on the heart failure induced by ischemic heart diseases and merely taking intermediate indices as outcome measures), further high-quality large-scale RCTs with death as the endpoint and which include subgroup analysis of non-ischemic heart failure, are required in order to provide more reliable evidence.
Objective To assess the effectiveness of psychotherapy for depression in older patients. Methods We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (1990 to August 2007), MEDLINE (1966 to August 2007), EMbase (1980 to August 2007), and CMB-disk (1990 to August 2007) to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in which psychotherapy was used to treat depression in older patients. We screened the retrieved studies according to the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, evaluated the quality of included studies, and performed meta-analyses by using The Cochrane Collaboration’s RevMan 4.2 software. Results Ten RCTs were included. Compared with placebo, psychotherapy was more effective in decreasing depression score (SMD 0.63, 95%CI – 0.84 to – 0.42). Subgroup analysis showed that cognitive-behavioral therapy, reminiscence therapy, and general psychological therapy were more effective than placebo (SMD – 0.70, 95%CI – 1.12 to – 0.27; SMD – 0.54, 95%CI – 0.81 to – 0.26; SMD – 0.84, 95%CI – 1.34 to – 0.34, respectively). However, psychotherapy as an adjunct treatment could not significantly improve the effectiveness of antidepressant medication (SMD – 0.35, 95%CI – 0.74 to 0.05). There was no significant difference between cognitive-behavioral therapy and reminiscence therapy in improving depression symptoms (SMD 0.13, 95%CI – 0.30 to 0.56). The dropout rate was similar between patients treated with or without psychotherapy (RR 1.03, 95%CI 0.55 to 1.94). Conclusion Various kinds of psychotherapy are effective for depression in older patients. But psychotherapy as an adjunct treatment could not significantly improve the effectiveness of antidepressant medication.