The care of elderly people and prevention of obesity in children seem to be prompting the most interest in health research at the moment.

Preventing falls in elderly people and obesity in children were the two most commonly accessed reviews worldwide from the Cochrane Library in 2007.

A new analysis of the 20 most viewed items from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews also shows big differences between countries. In India the most popular review was of β blockers for hypertension; in France it was for type 2 diabetes.

More than half the world’s consumers and health professionals have free access or access funded by an institution or government to Cochrane evidence, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews holds 5171 reviews. In 2007 there were 4036752 individual visits and 2603210 full text downloads.

An analysis of 2007 data shows that the most accessed reviews, after falls among elderly people and child obesity, were of β blockers for high blood pressure followed by low glycaemia index diets for overweight and obesity and nicotine receptor partial agonists for smoking cessation.

In the United Kingdom the top three reviews were the same as the global ranking except that interventions to improve hand hygiene were in third place. In the United States the top three reviews were obesity in children, falls among elderly people, and nicotine receptor partial agonists for smoking cessation.

In India the top five reviews were β blockers for hypertension, diacerein for osteoarthritis, exercises for mechanical neck disorders, physiotherapy treatment after stroke, and physical therapy interventions for shoulder pain.

Falls among elderly people was the most viewed review in Australia, followed by paracetamol for treating fever in children; interventions for preventing obesity in children; cognitive behaviour therapy for anxiety disorders in children and adolescents; and low glycaemic index or low glycaemic load diets for overweight and obesity.

In China, the top three accessed reviews were reports from the Cochrane Renal Group, Cochrane Hepato-Biliary Group, and the Cochrane Metabolic and Endocrine Disorders Group.

Another, short term analysis, based on the number of pages viewed in the past 30 days, shows that worldwide, cranberries for preventing urinary tract infections was the most accessed review followed by vitamin C for colds prevention.