Appendix seven: clinical filters
2004 version 2
24 May 2004
Methodological or clinical filters
Sources
NHS Critical Appraisal Skills Programme
Aetiology, diagnosis, prognosis and therapy filters. CASP has an excellent page listing filters applied to the Ovid system for MEDLINE and other databases, and background on their applicability in practice. These are based on the detailed work of Haynes et al. from McMaster University in Canada and are considered by many to be the most authoritative. These are the filters described below.
http://www.phru.nhs.uk/casp/filters.htm
PubMed clinical queries
Aetiology, diagnosis, prognosis, therapy and systematic reviews. These are again based on the Haynes filters.
- Go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static/clinical.html
- Go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static/clinicaltable.html
University of Sydney medical library
Has a series of filters for Ovid MEDLINE adaptable for sensitivity or specificity, based on those developed by Anne McKibbon of the Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine.
http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/subjects/medicine/tutorials/ebm/guide2.html
University of Sheffield School of Health and Related Research
Has an online manual for the ADEPT course, which summarises various research designs and evaluates search strategies for different clinical situations. As well as aetiology, diagnosis, prognosis and therapy, it covers guidelines and economic evaluations, where other sites generally do not.
http://www.shef.ac.uk/~scharr/ir/adept/
Cochrane Collaboration handbook
Has appendices including the strategy used by the Collaboration for identifying systematic reviews.
http://www.cochrane.org/resources/handbook/index.htm
Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (University of York)
Search strategies to identify reviews and meta-analyses in MEDLINE and CINAHL. Gives several tested strategies which offer differing balances of recall and relevance.
http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/search.htm
Filters for clinical queries
These are the Haynes filters adapted by the NHS Critical Appraisal Skills Programme for the Ovid system by Jennie Kelson from Stoke Mandeville Hospital. For any filter, you will need to log onto MEDLINE Plus, type in the strategy, then save as a permanent search with a name of your choice. Then at any time in the future you can run the saved search and combine it with the operator AND with your specific terms.
Aetiology - sensitive
1. exp cohort studies/
2. exp risk/
3. (odds and ratio$).tw.
4. (relative and risk).tw.
5. (case and control$).tw.
6. or/1-5
Aetiology - specific
1. case-control studies/
2. cohort studies/
3. 1 or 2
Diagnosis - sensitive
1. exp "sensitivity and specificity"/
2. sensitivity.tw.
3. di.xs.
4. du.fs.
5. specificity.tw.
6. or/1-5
Diagnosis - specific
1. exp "sensitivity and specificity"/
2. (predictive and value$).tw.
3. 1 or 2
Prognosis - sensitive
1. incidence/
2. exp mortality/
3. follow-up studies/
4. mo.fs.
5. prognos$.tw.
6. predict$.tw.
7. course.tw.
8. or/1-7
Prognosis - specific
1. prognosis/
2. survival analysis/
3. 1 or 2
Therapy - sensitive
1. randomized controlled trial.pt.
2. dt.fs.
3. tu.fs.
4. random$.tw.
5. or/1-4
Therapy - specific
1. (double and blind$).tw.
2. placebo$.tw.
3. 1 or 2
Filters for researchers
These are the Ovid MEDLINE versions included in the Cochrane Collaboration handbook appendices (randomised controlled trials) and produced by the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (systematic reviews).
Randomised controlled trials (rcts) - sensitive
1. randomized controlled trial.pt.
2. controlled clinical trial.pt.
3. randomized controlled trials/
4. random allocation/
5. double blind method/
6. single blind method/
7. or/1-6
8. animal/ not human/
9. 7 not 8
10. clinical trial.pt.
11. exp clinical trials/
12. (clin$ adj25 trial$).ti,ab.
13. ((singl$ or doubl$ or trebl$ or tripl$) adj25 (blind$ or mask$)).ti,ab.
14. placebos/
15. placebo$.ti,ab.
16. random$.ti,ab.
17. research design/
18. or/10-17
19. 18 not 8
20. 19 not 9
21. comparative study/
22. exp evaluation studies/
23. follow up studies/
24. prospective studies/
25. (control$ or prospectiv$ or volunteer$).ti,ab.
26. or/21-25
27. 26 not 8
28. 27 not (9 or 20)
29. 9 or 20 or 28
Systematic reviews (systrevs) - sensitive
1. controlled.ab.
2. design.ab.
3. evidence.ab.
4. extraction.ab.
5. randomized controlled trials/
6. meta-analysis.pt.
7. review.pt.
8. sources.ab.
9. studies.ab.
10. or/1-9
11. letter.pt.
12. comment.pt.
13. editorial.pt.
14. or/11-13
15. 10 not 14
Any questions? Please contact the MEDLINE Plus help desk:
Tel: 020 7383 6224 or 6737
email: info.medline@bma.org.uk
web: http://www.bma.org.uk/medline