South African Cochrane Centre

CATBank: Critically Appraised Topics

What is a CAT?
A CAT or Critically Appraised Topic, is a document created in response to a clinical question. It summarises an individual item of evidence and presents the results in an easily digestible format.
At the South African Cochrane Centre (SACC) CATs are created for every paper presented at the SACC Journal Club meetings. The focus of these meetings is on randomized controlled trials evaluating interventions for Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and its related conditions.
Below the currently available CATs (provided as PDF files and containing the full bibliographic details) are listed according to their subject.

Tuberculosis

• Prevention
  • Rifampin and pyrazinamide vs isoniazid for prevention of tuberculosis in HIV-infected persons. (Gordin) (pdf format, 89 kb)
• Treatment
  • Two 8-month regimens of chemotherapy for treatment of newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis. (Jindani) (pdf format, 45 kb)
  • Adjunctive steroids for reducing residual pleural effusion in patients with TB. (Fleishman) (pdf format, 30 kb)

HIV

• Prevention
  • Randomized, controlled intervention trial of male circumcision for reduction of HIV infection risk: The ANRS 1265 trial. (Auvert) (pdf format, 29 kb)
  • Postexposure prophylaxis to reduce MTCT of HIV infection. (Gray) (pdf format, 82 kb)
  • Monthly antibiotic chemoprophylaxis for reducing incidence of HIV-1 and sexually transmitted infections. (Kaul) (pdf format, 39 kb)
  • Single-dose perinatal nevirapine plus standard Zidovudine to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 in Thailand. (Lallemant) (pdf format, 32 kb)
  • Post-exposure prophylaxis for reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. (Taha) (pdf format, 26 kb)
• Treatment
  • Adherence to antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected pediatric patients improves with home-based intensive nursing intervention. (Berrien) (pdf format, 104 kb)
  • The effect of zinc supplementation on HIV-1 replication in HIV-1-infected children. (Bobat) (pdf format, 98 kb)
  • Multivitamin supplements for delaying HIV disease progression and mortality. (Fawzi) (pdf format, 121 kb)
  • Micronutrient supplementation in addition to antiprotozoal therapy for reducing morbidity and possibly mortality. (Kelly) (pdf format, 38 kb)
  • Couple-focused support for improving HIV medication adherence. (Remien) (pdf format, 88 kb)
  • Aerobic exercise: effects on parameters related to fatigue, dyspnea, weight and body composition in HIV-infected adults. (Smith) (pdf format, 88 kb)
  • A comparison of the efficacy of posaconazole with fluconazole in the treatment of oropharyngeal candidiasis in HIV-infected persons. (Vazquez) (pdf format, 182 kb)
  • The effect of influenza vaccination in HIV-infected persons. (Tasker) (pdf format, 89 kb)

Malaria

• Treatment
  • Amodiaquine alone, amodiaquine + sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine, amodiaquine + artesunate, and artemether-lumefantrine for outpatient treatment of malaria in Tanzanian children: a four-arm randomized effectiveness trial. (Theonest) (pdf format, 98 kb)

Thank you for visiting the page. Please do return as the list of documents is updated regularly.

For more information contact Elizabeth Pienaar at elizabeth.pienaar@mrc.ac.za