Abstract

BACKGROUND
 Search filters can potentially improve the efficiency of searches involving electronic databases such as medline and embase. Although search filters have been developed for identifying records that contain adverse effects data, little is known about the sensitivity of such filters.
OBJECTIVES
 This study measured the sensitivity of using available adverse effects filters to retrieve papers with adverse effects data. Methods:  A total of 233 included studies from 26 systematic reviews of adverse effects were used for analysis. Search filters from medline and embase were tested for their sensitivity in retrieving the records included in these reviews. In addition, the sensitivity of each individual search term used in at least one search filter was measured.
RESULTS
 Subheadings proved the most useful search terms in both medline and embase. No indexing terms in medline achieved over 12% sensitivity. The sensitivity of published search filters varied in medline from 3% to 93% and in embase from 57% to 97%. Whether this level of sensitivity is acceptable will be dependent on the purpose of the search.
CONCLUSIONS
 Although no adverse effects search filter captured all the relevant records, high sensitivity could be achieved. Search filters may therefore be useful in retrieving adverse effects data.

Links

Publisher Full Text

Authors

Golder S, Loke YK

Institution

Centre for Reviews and Dissemination-CRD, University of York, York, UK. su.golder@york.ac.uk

Source

Health information and libraries journal 29:2 2012 Jun pg 141-51

MeSH

Databases, Factual
Drug Toxicity
Feasibility Studies
Humans
Information Dissemination
MEDLINE
Search Engine

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22630362