Last month, our NIHR Evidence Synthesis Scotland Initiative (NESSIE) team celebrated our second anniversary by reflecting on what we have achieved over the past two years. We thought we would share some of our highlights and activities in this blog.

As you know, our focus for evidence synthesis projects is on health and social care, and so far we have completed four reviews:

• Recent research in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: an evidence map, which has been published in the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Journals Library.
  • You can access the research article here.
  • You can view the interactive map here.
• Twin reviews on Mandatory drug and alcohol treatment orders for improving health outcomes for people involved with the justice system. Two separate but complementary reviews (one qualitative and one quantitative) were conducted in conjunction with the Salvation Army Centre for Addiction Services and Research. The PROSPERO record for this project can be found here: CRD42023484923. Two publications have been submitted to a journal and are currently going through the peer review process. Keep an eye on our blog for updates on these publications.
• A large review on Exercise for people with existing vascular disease as a tool for secondary prevention was conducted with our colleagues from the Cochrane Heart, Stroke and Circulation Thematic Group. The PROSPERO record for this project can be found here: CRD42024517019. This has recently been accepted for publication in Lancet eClinical Medicine. We will share this publication as soon as it’s available.

We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who worked with us on these reviews, including those with lived experience, clinicians and interest holders.  Your input has been invaluable in ensuring the reviews we produce focus on what’s important to people living with these conditions, as well as those planning and delivering services.

What’s coming up next?

There has been lots of activity to get our new reviews started, so look out for further blog posts introducing you to our new projects soon!

If you are interested in reading other blogs on the projects above, as well as giving you an insight into the researchers behind NESSIE, why not take a look at our earlier blog posts.

Blog by Dr Katie Thomson

NESSIE celebrates two years of evidence syntheses! / NESSIE - NIHR Evidence Synthesis Scotland InitiativE by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0