Inclusion of a search filter on this site is not an endorsement of its validity or a recommendation for its use by the editors of this site, by the InterTASC Information Specialists SubGroup or by the (UK) National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). For suggestions on the appraisal of filters see the ISSG Search Filter Appraisal Checklist.
This page shows publications that have reviewed search filter performance and individual search filters.
Please note that other filter sites/filter collections may have relevant filters for this topic.
No publications have yet reviewed performance .
Database indexing changes over time and new vocabulary may be introduced. With older filters, please check the subject indexing to ensure that the subject indexing is still current and, if not, consider whether new vocabulary may need to be added to the filter. Please note that if filters are amended, the performance may change from that published in the original articles and the filter should be reported as amended from the original filter.
Walker-Dilks C, Wilczynski NL, Haynes RB. Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature search strategies for identifying methodologically sound causation and prognosis studies. Appl Nurs Res. 2008;21(2):98-103.
Haynes RB, Kastner M, Wilczynski NL, for the HEDGES team. Developing optimal search strategies for detecting clinically sound and relevant causation studies in EMBASE. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2005; 5:8.
Launch sensitivity maximising filter on Ovid (subscribers only)
Launch specificity maximising filter on Ovid (subscribers only)
Launch filter that provides best balance of sensitivity and specificity on Ovid (subscribers only)
also here
Sperr, E V. Mind the gap: identifying what is missed when searching only the broad scope with clinical queries. J Med Libr Assoc 2019;107(3):333–340.
Guaraldi F. , Grottoli S. , Arvat E. , Mattioli S. , Ghigo E. , Gori D. PubMed search strategies for the identification of etiologic associations between hypothalamic-pituitary disorders and other medical conditions. Pituitary. 2013;16(4):471-482
Schaafsma F, Hulshof C, Verbeek J, Bos J, Dyserinck H, van Dijk F. Developing search strategies in Medline on the occupational origin of diseases. Am J Ind Med. 2006;49(2):127-37. [PubMed]
Wilczynski NL, Haynes RB, Hedges Team. Developing optimal search strategies for detecting clinically sound causation studies in MEDLINE. AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings 2003;719-23. [PubMed].
also here
Sperr, E V. Mind the gap: identifying what is missed when searching only the broad scope with clinical queries. J Med Libr Assoc 2019;107(3):333–340.
The performance of the strategies have been reassessed in 2012/2013 in the paper MEDLINE clinical queries are robust when searching in recent publishing years