Optimal search strategies for retrieving systematic reviews from Medline: analytical survey. Export

@article{citeulike:162058, abstract = {OBJECTIVE: To develop optimal search strategies in Medline for retrieving systematic reviews. DESIGN: Analytical survey. DATA SOURCES: 161 journals published in 2000 indexed in Medline. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The sensitivity, specificity, and precision of retrieval of systematic reviews of 4862 unique terms in 782,485 combinations of one to five terms were determined by comparison with a hand search of all articles (the criterion standard) in 161 journals published during 2000 (49,028 articles). RESULTS: Only 753 (1.5\%) of the 49,028 articles were systematic reviews. The most sensitive strategy included five terms and had a sensitivity of 99.9\% (95\% confidence interval 99.6\% to 100\%) and a specificity of 52\% (51.6\% to 52.5\%). The strategy that best minimised the difference between sensitivity and specificity had a sensitivity of 98\% (97\% to 99\%) and specificity of 90.8\% (90.5\% to 91.1\%). Highest precision for multiterm strategies, 57\% (54\% to 60\%), was achieved at a sensitivity of 71\% (68\% to 74\%). The term "cochrane database of systematic reviews.jn." was the most precise single term search strategy (sensitivity of 56\% (52\% to 60\%) and precision of 96\% (94\% to 98\%)). These strategies are available through the "limit" screen of Ovid's search interface for Medline. CONCLUSIONS: Systematic reviews can be retrieved from Medline with close to perfect sensitivity or specificity, or with high precision, by using empirical search strategies.}, address = {Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.}, author = {Montori, V. M. and Wilczynski, N. L. and Morgan, D. and Haynes, R. B. and {}}, citeulike-article-id = {162058}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.38336.804167.47}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15619601}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=15619601}, day = {8}, doi = {10.1136/bmj.38336.804167.47}, issn = {1468-5833}, journal = {BMJ}, keywords = {medline}, month = {January}, number = {7482}, posted-at = {2007-09-14 02:59:19}, priority = {2}, title = {Optimal search strategies for retrieving systematic reviews from Medline: analytical survey.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.38336.804167.47}, volume = {330}, year = {2005} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:162058 L3 - citeulike-article-id:162058 N2 - OBJECTIVE: To develop optimal search strategies in Medline for retrieving systematic reviews. DESIGN: Analytical survey. DATA SOURCES: 161 journals published in 2000 indexed in Medline. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The sensitivity, specificity, and precision of retrieval of systematic reviews of 4862 unique terms in 782,485 combinations of one to five terms were determined by comparison with a hand search of all articles (the criterion standard) in 161 journals published during 2000 (49,028 articles). RESULTS: Only 753 (1.5%) of the 49,028 articles were systematic reviews. The most sensitive strategy included five terms and had a sensitivity of 99.9% (95% confidence interval 99.6% to 100%) and a specificity of 52% (51.6% to 52.5%). The strategy that best minimised the difference between sensitivity and specificity had a sensitivity of 98% (97% to 99%) and specificity of 90.8% (90.5% to 91.1%). Highest precision for multiterm strategies, 57% (54% to 60%), was achieved at a sensitivity of 71% (68% to 74%). The term "cochrane database of systematic reviews.jn." was the most precise single term search strategy (sensitivity of 56% (52% to 60%) and precision of 96% (94% to 98%)). These strategies are available through the "limit" screen of Ovid's search interface for Medline. CONCLUSIONS: Systematic reviews can be retrieved from Medline with close to perfect sensitivity or specificity, or with high precision, by using empirical search strategies. IS - 7482 JF - BMJ SN - 1468-5833 AD - Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. TI - Optimal search strategies for retrieving systematic reviews from Medline: analytical survey. VL - 330 KW - medline AU - Montori, VM AU - Wilczynski, NL AU - Morgan, D AU - Haynes, RB PY - 2005/01/08/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.38336.804167.47 ER -