Furlan Andrea D, Irvin Emma, Bombardier Claire
Institute for Work and Health, 481 University Av, Suite 800, Toronto, Ontario M5G 2E9, Canada.
J Clin Epidemiol. 2006 Dec;59(12):1303-11. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2006.03.004. Epub 2006 Jul 11.
Searching for nonrandomized studies in electronic databases is complicated because there is a variety of study designs and lack of standardization in the terminology. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a method to limit search strategies according to study design of comparative nonrandomized studies (cNRSs).
Four updated Cochrane systematic reviews that included nonrandomized studies (cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies) of the effects of health care interventions were selected. Search strategies limited to study design were devised for each one of these topic areas in two electronic databases (MEDLINE and EMBASE). A progressive method (PM) and a fixed method for selecting the most appropriate search terms associated with study design of nonrandomized studies are suggested.
The results showed that the sensitivity of search strategies (in two databases combined) limited to study design were between 90% and 100% for the PM using both controlled vocabulary (CV) and textwords (TWs) and between 95% and 100% for a fixed set of controlled vocabulary and TWs.
It is possible and acceptable to use search strategies limited to study design of cNRSs of health care interventions.
在电子数据库中检索非随机研究很复杂，因为存在多种研究设计且术语缺乏标准化。本研究的目的是开发并评估一种根据比较性非随机研究（cNRSs）的研究设计来限制检索策略的方法。
选择了四项更新的Cochrane系统评价，这些评价纳入了医疗保健干预效果的非随机研究（队列研究、病例对照研究和横断面研究）。针对这两个电子数据库（MEDLINE和EMBASE）中的每个主题领域，设计了限于研究设计的检索策略。提出了一种渐进法（PM）和一种固定法，用于选择与非随机研究设计相关的最合适检索词。
结果显示，对于使用受控词汇（CV）和文本词（TWs）的渐进法，限于研究设计的检索策略（两个数据库合并）的敏感性在90%至100%之间，对于一组固定的受控词汇和文本词，敏感性在95%至100%之间。
使用限于医疗保健干预cNRSs研究设计的检索策略是可行且可接受的。
