Towards evidence based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. Weather dependent nasal erythema in reindeer (Rangifer tarandus).

A short cut review was carried out to establish whether nasal erythema in a reindeer might be a useful navigational aid on Christmas Eve. From a search of nine papers, five presented evidence relevant to the question. The author, date and country of publication, "subjects" studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these papers are presented in table 3. The clinical bottom line is that a reindeer with a red nose at rest at the North Pole would not inspire confidence.