Research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Literature search
Mapping review
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Systematic literature search of systematic reviews and ongoing primary studies on the treatment and follow-up of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
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Key message
The Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services was commissioned by the Norwegian Directorate of Health to conduct a systematic literature search of systematic reviews and ongoing primary studies on the treatment and follow-up of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Methods
We conducted a systematic literature search in several databases. The search was completed in November 2015, and relevant references were sorted according to subject.
Results
We identified 132 potential systematic reviews and 141 ongoing primary studies:
- Most of the systematic reviews were about the effect of different drug treatments. There were also many potential systematic reviews on ventilation support, physical therapy and exercise.
- 12 systematic reviews summarized qualitative research on the perceptions and experiences of patients and their carers.
- 3 systematic reviews were about the correlation between different factors and the patients’ quality of life.
- Most of the ongoing primary studies were about the effect of different drug treatments. There were also a number of studies on stem cell treatment and ventilation support. Five of the studies were from a Nordic country.
We have not critically evaluated the studies and not read them in full text. Therefore, we cannot draw any conclusions regarding the studies' results, and some of the identified overviews may not be truly systematic reviews. We did not search for completed and published primary studies.
We present abstracts from the identified systematic reviews and URLs to the ongoing primary studies.
