Electronic search strategies

Cases studies Explored databases Electronic search strategies Screening criteria Evaluation criteria Structure of summaries Idiomatic translation

The most sensitive (exhaustive) strategy is used for studies published from 1997 onwards. A more specific (restrictive) strategy is used for studies published previously.

The strategy used for the years from 1997 onward for the MEDLINE, Health Star, Psychoinfo and Bioethics databases is:

1. explode "Low-Back-Pain"/ all subheadings
2. explode "Sciatica"/ all subheadings
3. explode "Intervertebral-Disk-Displacement"/ all subheadings
4. explode "Intervertebral-Disk-Chemolysis"/ all subheadings
5. explode "Back-Pain"/ all subheadings
6. #1 or #2 or #3 or #4 or #5
7. (letter or editorial or case-report or historical-article or historical-biography or comment or interview) in pt
8. #6 not #7
9. (english or spanish or french or german) in la
10. #8 and #9
11. low back pain
12. sciatica
13. intervertebral disk displacement
14. intervertebral disk chemolysis
15. back pain
16. #11 or #12 or #13 or #14 or #15
17. #16 or #10
18. #17 and (human in tg)

The strategy used for the years 1997 and thereafter for the EMBASE databases is:

1. BACKACHE#
2. low-back-pain
3. ischialgia. DE, AB, TI.
4. sciatica. AB, TI.
5. intervertebral-disk-hernia#
6. chemonucleolysis. DE, AB, TI.
7. backache. AB, TI.
8. low ADJ back ADJ pain. AB, TI.
9. intervertebral ADJ disk ADJ displacement$1. AB, TI.
10. 1 OR 2 OR 3 OR 4 OR 5 OR 6 OR 7 OR 8 OR 9
11. letter#
12. editorial#
13. case-report#
14. history-of-medicine#
15. comments$1. TI.
16. interviews$1. DE, AB, TI.
17. 11 OR 12 OR 13 OR 14 OR 15 OR 16
18. 10 NOT 17
19. 18 H = Y
20. 19 AND (en. LG. OR fr. LG. OR sp. LG. OR ge. LG.)
21. 20 AND abstract. AB.
22. 21 YR > 96

The strategy used for 1996 previous years for the MEDLINE, Health Star, Psychoinfo and Bioethics databases is:

1. Case-Control-Studies"
2. "Cohort-Studies"
3. #1 or #2
4. explode "Sensitivity-and-Specificity"/ all subheadings
5. predictive
6. value*
7. (predictive and value*) in ti,ab,mesh
8. #4 or #7
9. prognosis
10. prognosis in mesh
11. explode "Survival-Analysis"/ all subheadings
12. #10 or #11
13. meta?anal*
14. meta
15. anal*
16. (meta?anal* or meta anal*) in ti,ab
17. quantitativ*
18. review*
19. quantitativ*
20. overview*
21. (quantitativ* review* or quantitativ* overview*) in ti,ab
22. systematic*
23. review*
24. systematic*
25. overview*
26. (systematic* review* or systematic* overview*) in ti,ab
27. methodologic*
28. review*
29. methodologic*
30. overview*
31. (methodologic* review* or methodologic* overview*) in ti,ab
32. integrative
33. research
34. review*
35. research
36. integration*
37. (integrative research review* or research integration*) in ti,ab
38. review
39. review in pt,mesh
40. review*
41. review* in ti,ab
42. overview*
43. overview* in ti,ab
44. quantitativ*
45. synthes*
46. quantitativ* synthes* in ti,ab
47. meta-analysis
48. meta-analysis in pt,mesh
49. #48 or #16 or #21 or #26 or #31 or #37 or #46
50. #49 and (#39 or #41 or #43)
51. double
52. blind*
53. (double and blind*) in ti,ab,mesh
54. placebo*
55. placebo* in ti,ab,mesh
56. #53 or #55
57. #3 or #8 or #12 or #50 or #56
58. explode "Low-Back-Pain"/ all subheadings
59. explode "Sciatica"/ all subheadings
60. explode "Intervertebral-Disk-Displacement"/ all subheadings
61. explode "Intervertebral-Disk-Chemolysis"/ all subheadings
62. explode "Back-Pain"/ all subheadings
63. #58 or #59 or #60 or #61 or #62
64. (letter or editorial or case-report or historical-article or historical-biography or comment or interview) in pt
65. #63 not #64
66. (english or spanish or french or german) in la
67. #65 and #66
68. low back pain
69. sciatica
70. intervertebral disk displacement
71. intervertebral disk chemolysis
72. back pain
73. #68 or #69 or #70 or #71 or #72
74. #73 or #67
75. #57 and #74

The strategy used for 1996 and previous years for the EMBASE database is:

1. BACKACHE#
2. low-back-pain
3. ischialgia. DE, AB, TI.
4. sciatica. AB, TI.
5. intervertebral-disk-hernia#
6. chemonucleolysis. DE, AB, TI.
7. backache. AB, TI.
8. low ADJ back ADJ pain. AB, TI.
9. intervertebral ADJ disk ADJ displacement$1. AB, TI.
10. 1 OR 2 OR 3 OR 4 OR 5 OR 6 OR 7 OR 8 OR 9
11. letter#
12. editorial#
13. case-report#
14. history-of-medicine#
15. comments$1. TI.
16. interviews$1. DE, AB, TI.
17. 11 OR 12 OR 13 OR 14 OR 15 OR 16
18. 10 NOT 17
19. 18 H = Y
20. 19 AND (en. LG. OR fr. LG. OR sp. LG. OR ge. LG.)
21. 20 AND abstract. AB.
22. 21 YR > 89
23. 22 YR <97
24. (Case ADJ Control ADJ Study OR (Case ADJ Control ADJ Study OR (Case ADJ Control ADJ Study OR (Case ADJ Control ADJ Study OR Case-Control-Study)))). DE, AB, TI. OR (Cohort ADJ Analysis OR (Cohort ADJ Analysis OR (Cohort ADJ Analysis OR (Cohort ADJ Analysis OR Cohort-Analysis)))). DE, AB, TI.
25. Survival#. DE.
26. Epidemiology#. DE.
27. prognosis. DE.
28. placebo$. DE, AB, TI.
29. double. DE, AB, TI. AND blind$. DE, AB, TI.
30. Predictive. DE, AB, TI. AND value$. DE, AB, TI.
31. 24 OR 25 OR 26 OR 27 OR 28 OR 29 OR 30
32. 23 AND 31

The strategy used for the Pascal database is:

1. Clinical trial* or randomi* control* trial* or drug* therap* or therapeutic* use or random* or double* or blind or placebo* or random* allocation* or single blind method*
2. cohort* stud* or incidence* or mortality or follow* up stud* or prognos* or survival analysis* or predictiv* or epidemiolog*
3. sensitivit* or specificit* or diagnos* or predictiv* value or risk* or odd or ratio* or relativ* or case* control*
4. meta*analys* or meta-analys* or review* or quantitativ* or systematic* or methodolog* or overview* or integrativ* research*
5. letter or editorial or case report or historical article or historical biography or comment or interview
6. english or spanish or french or german
7. low back pain or sciatica or intervertebral dis* displacement or intervertebral dis* chemolysis or back pain
8. #1 or #2 or #3 or #4
9. (#8 not #5) and #6 and #7

Quality Control Procedures:

The outcome of the automatic search is systematically compared with the results of a manual search, considered as the gold standard. Manual searching includes the 10 journals with the greatest number of articles published on common back pain from 1989 through 1999, along with an additional list of 20 other journals, selected by the Editorial Committee in relation to their specialty and impact. The purpose is to detect if automatic searching has missed any of the articles gathered manually. Should this occur would be developed and implemented a more sensitive electronic search strategy.

The 10 journals that have published the greatest number of articles on common back pain from 1989 through to 1999 are:

• Spine
• Journal of Manipulative Physiotherapy
• Journal of Spinal Disorders
• European Spine Journal
• Journal of Neurosurgery
• Archives of Physical Medicine Rehabilitation
• Physical Therapy
• BMJ (British Medical Journal)
• Revue du Rhumatisme, english edition
• Pain

The 20 journals selected by the Editorial Committee are:

• New England Journal of Medicine
• Lancet
• Annals of Internal Medicine
• JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)
• Journal of Investigative Medicine
• British Medical Journal
• Archives of Internal Medicine
• Medicine
• Annual Review of Medicine
• American Journal of Medicine
• Journal of Internal Medicine
• British Journal of General Practice
• Mayo Clinic Proceedings
• European Journal of Clinical Investigation
• Journal of Pain Symptom Management
• British Medical Bulletin
• Quarterly Journal of Medicine
• Advances in Internal Medicine
• Medicina Clínica
• Canadian Medical Association Journal