Badgett Robert G, Dylla Daniel P, Megison Susan D, Harmon E Glynn
Department of Internal Medicine, Kansas University School of Medicine - Wichita , Wichita, KS , USA.
Katy Campus Library, Houston Community College , Houston, TX , USA.
PeerJ. 2015 Apr 23;3:e913. doi: 10.7717/peerj.913. eCollection 2015.
Objective. We compared the precision of a search strategy designed specifically to retrieve randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and systematic reviews of RCTs with search strategies designed for broader purposes. Methods. We designed an experimental search strategy that automatically revised searches up to five times by using increasingly restrictive queries as long at least 50 citations were retrieved. We compared the ability of the experimental and alternative strategies to retrieve studies relevant to 312 test questions. The primary outcome, search precision, was defined for each strategy as the proportion of relevant, high quality citations among the first 50 citations retrieved. Results. The experimental strategy had the highest median precision (5.5%; interquartile range [IQR]: 0%-12%) followed by the narrow strategy of the PubMed Clinical Queries (4.0%; IQR: 0%-10%). The experimental strategy found the most high quality citations (median 2; IQR: 0-6) and was the strategy most likely to find at least one high quality citation (73% of searches; 95% confidence interval 68%-78%). All comparisons were statistically significant. Conclusions. The experimental strategy performed the best in all outcomes although all strategies had low precision.
目的。我们将专门设计用于检索随机对照试验（RCT）及RCT系统评价的检索策略与为更广泛目的设计的检索策略的精准度进行了比较。方法。我们设计了一种实验性检索策略，该策略通过使用限制程度不断增加的检索词，在至少检索到50条文献时自动对检索进行多达五次的修正。我们比较了实验性检索策略和其他检索策略检索与312个测试问题相关研究的能力。主要结果指标检索精准度，针对每种策略定义为在前50条检索到的文献中相关的高质量文献所占的比例。结果。实验性检索策略的中位精准度最高（5.5%；四分位间距[IQR]：0%-12%），其次是PubMed临床查询的狭义策略（4.0%；IQR：0%-10%）。实验性检索策略找到的高质量文献最多（中位值2；IQR：0-6），并且是最有可能找到至少一篇高质量文献的策略（73%的检索；95%置信区间68%-78%）。所有比较均具有统计学意义。结论。尽管所有策略的精准度都较低，但实验性检索策略在所有结果指标上表现最佳。
