Several drugs have been proposed as therapeutic alternatives for COVID-19. An electronic systematic search of MEDLINE (via PubMed) was carried out until March 20th 2020, in order to identify the available evidence on pharmacological interventions for specific treatment of COVID-19. The quality of the evidence from clinical trials was evaluated according to the GRADE methodology. 947 publications were identified and 15 studies were selected: 3 clinical trials, 5 case series and 7 case reports. The existing evidence for hydroxychloroquine, favipiravir and lopinavir/ritonavir comes from clinical trials reporting favorable results for the first two drugs, while no benefit was observed when lopinavir/ritonavir was added to standard treatment. However, due to methodological issues, the evidence for hydroxychloroquine is very low. For favipiravir and lopi...

Introduction: Fetal weight estimation is important for obstetrical decisions; accuracy of ultrasound fetal weight estimations has not been studied. Objective: To determine ultrasound fetal weight estimations precision by developing a score based on clinical, ultrasound and maternal parameters. Design: Cross sectional study. Setting: Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen National Hospital, Lima, Peru. Participants: 130 pregnant women and their fetuses. Interventions: Clinical, ultrasound and maternal data were collected. We dichotomized predictions as actual birth weight less or equal to ±10% (correct) and more than ±10% (erroneous). We analyzed clinical, ultrasonographic and maternal variables using ROC curves in order to identify those with more influence in ultrasound accuracy. With such identified variables we developed a logistic regression model to establish a score that would estimate the ...

La estimación del peso fetal es importante para las decisiones obstétricas; la precisión de los estimados ecográficos no había sido estudiada, por esta razón se realizó un estudio de tipo transversal con 130 gestantes y sus fetos del Hospital Nacional Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen, en Lima, Perú, para determinar la precisión del estimado ecográfico del peso fetal mediante un puntaje basado en parámetros clínicos, ecográficos y maternos. Se consignó los datos, se analizó las variables clínicas, ecográficas y maternas mediante el uso de las curvas ROC, para identificar aquellas que tuvieron más influencia en la precisión ecográfica. Con las variables identificadas, se procedió al desarrollo de un modelo de regresión logística, para establecer un puntaje que estimara la probabilidad de variación que relaciona la edad gestacional con la circunferencia abdominal y el diÃ...

The COVID-19 pandemics required the countries to take decisions rapidly. Consequently, the National Institute of Health (INS) developed a series of documents of scientific evidence synthesis according to the Ministry of Health’s requirements. Based on these reports, the INS developed recommendations to update normative documents related to COVID-19’s management. This article describes the construction of a new methodology applied by the INS to synthesize scientific evidence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it emphasizes the efforts and strategies used to guarantee the methodological quality and the implementation of the GRADE approach. Finally, it provides a short reflection on the limitations and challenges of using evidence to design national public policies in the future.

The COVID-19 pandemics required the countries to take decisions rapidly. Consequently, the National Institute of Health (INS) developed a series of documents of scientific evidence synthesis according to the Ministry of Health’s requirements. Based on these reports, the INS developed recommendations to update normative documents related to COVID-19’s management. This article describes the construction of a new methodology applied by the INS to synthesize scientific evidence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it emphasizes the efforts and strategies used to guarantee the methodological quality and the implementation of the GRADE approach. Finally, it provides a short reflection on the limitations and challenges of using evidence to design national public policies in the future.

The COVID-19 pandemics required the countries to take decisions rapidly. Consequently, the National Institute of Health (INS) developed a series of documents of scientific evidence synthesis according to the Ministry of Health’s requirements. Based on these reports, the INS developed recommendations to update normative documents related to COVID-19’s management. This article describes the construction of anew methodology applied by the INS to synthesize scientific evidence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it emphasizes the efforts and strategies used to guarantee the methodological quality and the implementation of the GRADE approach. Finally, it provides a short reflection on the limitations and challenges of using evidence to design national public policies in the future.