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About us

Search filters

Our systematic review and randomised controlled trial search strategies are heavily based on strategies developed by Brian Haynes and Anne McKibbon at McMaster University in Canada,[1] and strategies developed by Carol Lefebvre et al at the UK Cochrane Centre[2]. The observational study and adverse effects search strategies have been designed in-house by BMJ Knowledge information specialists to retrieve studies most likely to meet our methodological criteria.

N.B. All search strategies have been created for the OVID online search interface

Medline systematic review filter

  1. ("review" or "review academic" or "review tutorial").pt.
  2. (medline or medlars or embase or pubmed).tw,sh.
  3. (scisearch or psychinfo or psycinfo).tw,sh.
  4. (psychlit or psyclit).tw,sh.
  5. cinahl.tw,sh.
  6. ((hand adj2 search$) or (manual$ adj2 search$)).tw,sh.
  7. (electronic database$ or bibliographic database$ or computeri?ed database$ or online database$).tw,sh.
  8. (pooling or pooled or mantel haenszel).tw,sh.
  9. (retraction of publication or retracted publication).pt.
  10. (peto or dersimonian or der simonian or fixed effect).tw,sh.
  11. or/2-10
  12. 1 and 11
  13. meta-analysis.pt.
  14. meta-analysis.sh.
  15. (meta-analys$ or meta analys$ or metaanalys$).tw,sh.
  16. (systematic$ adj5 review$).tw,sh.
  17. (systematic$ adj5 overview$).tw,sh.
  18. (quantitativ$ adj5 review$).tw,sh.
  19. (quantitativ$ adj5 overview$).tw,sh.
  20. (quantitativ$ adj5 synthesis$).tw,sh.
  21. (methodologic$ adj5 review$).tw,sh.
  22. (methodologic$ adj5 overview$).tw,sh.
  23. (integrative research review$ or research integration).tw.
  24. or/13-23
  25. 12 or 24

Embase systematic review filter

  1. exp review/
  2. (medline or medlars or embase or pubmed).ti,ab,sh.
  3. (scisearch or psychlit or psyclit).ti,ab,sh.
  4. (psycinfo or psychinfo).ti,ab,sh.
  5. cinahl.ti,ab,sh.
  6. ((hand adj2 search$) or (manual$ adj search$)).tw.
  7. ((electronic adj database$) or (bibliographic adj database$)).tw.
  8. ((pooled adj analys$) or pooling).tw.
  9. (peto or dersimonian or (fixed adj effect) or mantel haenszel).tw.
  10. RETRACTED ARTICLE/
  11. or/2-10
  12. 1 and 11
  13. exp meta analysis/
  14. meta?analys$.tw,sh.
  15. (systematic$ adj5 review$).tw,sh.
  16. (systematic$ adj5 overview$).tw,sh.
  17. (quantitativ$ adj5 review$).tw,sh.
  18. (quantitativ$ adj5 overview$).tw,sh.
  19. (methodologic$ adj5 review$).tw,sh.
  20. (methodologic$ adj5 overview$).tw,sh.
  21. ((integrative adj5 research adj5 review$) or (research adj5 integration)).tw.
  22. (quantitativ$ adj5 synthesi$).tw,sh.
  23. or/13-22
  24. 12 or 23

Medline randomised controlled trial filter

  1. 1.exp randomized controlled trials/
  2. "randomized controlled trial".pt.
  3. "controlled clinical trial".pt.
  4. (random$ or placebo$).ti,ab,sh.
  5. ((singl$ or double$ or triple$ or treble$) and (blind$ or mask$)).tw,sh.
  6. (retraction of publication or retracted publication).pt.
  7. or/1-6
  8. (animals not humans).sh.
  9. 7 not 8

Embase randomised controlled trial filter

  1. (random$ or placebo$).ti,ab.
  2. ((single$ or double$ or triple$ or treble$) and (blind$ or mask$)).ti,ab.
  3. controlled clinical trial$.ti,ab.
  4. RETRACTED ARTICLE/
  5. or/1-4
  6. (animal$ not human$).sh,hw.
  7. 5 not 6

Medline cohort study filter

  1. exp cohort studies/
  2. cohort$.tw.
  3. controlled clinical trial.pt.
  4. epidemiologic methods/
  5. limit 4 to yr=1971-1988
  6. or/1-3,5

Embase cohort study filter

  1. exp cohort analysis/
  2. exp longitudinal study/
  3. exp prospective study/
  4. exp follow up/
  5. cohort$.tw.
  6. or/1-5

Medline cohort and case-control filter

  1. exp cohort studies/
  2. cohort$.tw.
  3. controlled clinical trial.pt.
  4. epidemiologic methods/
  5. limit 4 to yr=1966-1989
  6. exp case-control studies/
  7. (case$ and control$).tw.
  8. or/1-3,5-7

Embase cohort and case-control filter

  1. exp cohort analysis/
  2. exp longitudinal study/
  3. exp prospective study/
  4. exp follow up/
  5. cohort$.tw.
  6. exp case control study/
  7. (case$ and control$).tw.
  8. or/1-7

Medline cohort, case-control and case series filter

  1. exp cohort studies/
  2. cohort$.tw.
  3. controlled clinical trial.pt.
  4. epidemiologic methods/
  5. limit 4 to yr=1966-1989
  6. exp case-control studies/
  7. (case$ and control$).tw.
  8. (case$ and series).tw.
  9. or/1-3,5-8

Embase cohort, case-control and case series filter

  1. exp cohort analysis/
  2. exp longitudinal study/
  3. exp prospective study/
  4. exp follow up/
  5. cohort$.tw.
  6. exp case control study/
  7. (case$ and control$).tw.
  8. exp case study/
  9. (case$ and series).tw.
  10. or/1-9

Medline cohort, case-control, case series and case study filter

  1. exp cohort studies/
  2. cohort$.tw.
  3. controlled clinical trial.pt.
  4. epidemiologic methods/
  5. limit 4 to yr=1966-1989
  6. exp case-control studies/
  7. (case$ and control$).tw.
  8. (case$ and series).tw.
  9. case reports.pt.
  10. (case$ adj2 report$).tw.
  11. (case$ adj2 stud$).tw.
  12. or/1-3,5-11

Embase cohort, case-control, case series and case study filter

  1. exp cohort analysis/
  2. exp longitudinal study/
  3. exp prospective study/
  4. exp follow up/
  5. cohort$.tw.
  6. exp case control study/
  7. (case$ and control$).tw.
  8. exp case study/
  9. (case$ and series).tw.
  10. case report/
  11. (case$ adj2 report$).tw.
  12. (case$ adj2 stud$).tw.
  13. or/1-12

Medline adverse effects filter

  1. (ae or to or po or co).fs.
  2. (safe or safety).ti,ab.
  3. side effect$.ti,ab.
  4. ((adverse or undesirable or harms$ or serious or toxic) adj3 (effect$ or reaction$ or event$ or outcome$)).ti,ab.
  5. exp product surveillance, postmarketing/
  6. exp adverse drug reaction reporting systems/
  7. exp clinical trials, phase iv/
  8. exp poisoning/
  9. exp substance-related disorders/
  10. exp drug toxicity/
  11. exp abnormalities, drug induced/
  12. exp drug monitoring/
  13. exp drug hypersensitivity/
  14. (toxicity or complication$ or noxious or tolerability).ti,ab.
  15. exp Postoperative Complications/
  16. exp Intraoperative Complications/
  17. or/1-16

Embase adverse effects filter

  1. (ae or si or to or co).fs.
  2. (safe or safety).ti,ab.
  3. side effect$.ti,ab.
  4. ((adverse or undesirable or harm$ or serious or toxic) adj3 (effect$ or reaction$ or event$ or outcome$)).ti,ab.
  5. exp adverse drug reaction/
  6. exp drug toxicity/
  7. exp intoxication/
  8. exp drug safety/
  9. exp drug monitoring/
  10. exp drug hypersensitivity/
  11. exp postmarketing surveillance/
  12. exp drug surveillance program/
  13. exp phase iv clinical trial/
  14. (toxicity or complication$ or noxious or tolerability).ti,ab.
  15. exp postoperative complication/
  16. exp Peroperative Complication/
  17. or/1-16

References

  1. Haynes RB, et al. Developing optimal search strategies for detecting clinically sound studies in MEDLINE. J Am Med Inform Assoc 1994 Nov;1(6):447– 458.[MedLine]
  2. Dickersin K, Scherer R, Lefebrve C. Identifying relevant studies for systematic reviews. BMJ 1994;309:1286–1291.[MedLine]