Article type
Year
Abstract
Background:
Childhood cataract affects approximately 4 babies per 10,000 live births and is the cause of 5% to 20% of childhood blindness worldwide (http://eyewiki.aao.org/Cataracts_in_Children,_Congenital_and_Acquired, accessed 5 March 2018). Cataract Kids Australia (CKA) is a new consumer advocacy organisation designed to enhance the support and information provided to children with cataract and their families, optimise clinical care and establish closer connections with researchers. Established by a former Cochrane Managing Editor, CKA has a focus on high-quality evidence and seeks to utilise relevant Cochrane reviews as a basis for its consumer information.
Objectives:
To identify relevant Cochrane reviews relevant to childhood cataract and present their findings in a consumer-friendly way on the Cataract Kids Australia website (www.cataractkids.org.au)
Methods:
A CKA director, who is also a parent of a child affected by cataract, searched the Cochrane Library regularly for reviews of interventions for cataract in babies and children, and contacted the relevant Cochrane Group directly for additional information.
Results:
A search of issue 3 2018 of the Cochrane Library using the term ‘cataract’ in record title returned 29 results, of which 25 were reviews and 4 protocols. Only one of the reviews included participants who were children with cataract (Long V, Chen S, Hatt SR. Surgical interventions for bilateral congenital cataract. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 3). The other reviews focused on age-related cataract although this was not always clear from the title and occasionally was only obliquely apparent in the review text. The review by Long et al is more than a decade old and limited to children with bilateral cataract.
Conclusions:
Cochrane reviews currently offer a very limited resource for the development of consumer-friendly evidence-based information for children affected by cataract and their families, as well as clinicians involved in their care. The interest shown by a relevant consumer organisation in this evidence ‘gap’ offers an opportunity for Cochrane Groups to focus their attention on this neglected patient group.
Patient or healthcare consumer involvement:
This assessment was driven by a consumer advocacy organisation, Cataract Kids Australia.
Childhood cataract affects approximately 4 babies per 10,000 live births and is the cause of 5% to 20% of childhood blindness worldwide (http://eyewiki.aao.org/Cataracts_in_Children,_Congenital_and_Acquired, accessed 5 March 2018). Cataract Kids Australia (CKA) is a new consumer advocacy organisation designed to enhance the support and information provided to children with cataract and their families, optimise clinical care and establish closer connections with researchers. Established by a former Cochrane Managing Editor, CKA has a focus on high-quality evidence and seeks to utilise relevant Cochrane reviews as a basis for its consumer information.
Objectives:
To identify relevant Cochrane reviews relevant to childhood cataract and present their findings in a consumer-friendly way on the Cataract Kids Australia website (www.cataractkids.org.au)
Methods:
A CKA director, who is also a parent of a child affected by cataract, searched the Cochrane Library regularly for reviews of interventions for cataract in babies and children, and contacted the relevant Cochrane Group directly for additional information.
Results:
A search of issue 3 2018 of the Cochrane Library using the term ‘cataract’ in record title returned 29 results, of which 25 were reviews and 4 protocols. Only one of the reviews included participants who were children with cataract (Long V, Chen S, Hatt SR. Surgical interventions for bilateral congenital cataract. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 3). The other reviews focused on age-related cataract although this was not always clear from the title and occasionally was only obliquely apparent in the review text. The review by Long et al is more than a decade old and limited to children with bilateral cataract.
Conclusions:
Cochrane reviews currently offer a very limited resource for the development of consumer-friendly evidence-based information for children affected by cataract and their families, as well as clinicians involved in their care. The interest shown by a relevant consumer organisation in this evidence ‘gap’ offers an opportunity for Cochrane Groups to focus their attention on this neglected patient group.
Patient or healthcare consumer involvement:
This assessment was driven by a consumer advocacy organisation, Cataract Kids Australia.