Lorenzetti Diane L, Lin Yongtao
J Med Libr Assoc. 2017 Jul;105(3):216-225. doi: 10.5195/jmla.2017.236. Epub 2017 Jul 1.
This study explored the effectiveness of search filters in identifying sex- and gender-specific data in health promotion studies that are indexed in MEDLINE.
Literature searches were conducted to identify studies on patient or consumer attitudes and behaviors toward colorectal cancer screening, nutritional labeling, and influenza vaccination. Publications reporting sex- or gender-specific outcome data constituted the gold standards for this study. The sensitivity and precision of previously published gender-specific filters, as well as individual filter component terms, were calculated and compared with values identified in prior studies.
The sensitivity and precision of published sex or gender filters varied across topics. Sensitivity values ranged from 14.3% to 92.5%, while precision varied from 17.9% to 51.4%. These filters were less sensitive and less precise in their identification of relevant studies than has been reported in previous studies. Further, while the MEDLINE Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) term "Sex Factors" achieved the greatest average precision (59.3%) of any individual filter term, the MEDLINE check tag "Female" returned the highest average sensitivity (90.1%), with an average precision of 25.0% across topics.
Although search filters can facilitate the identification of research evidence to enable decision making, variability in study abstracting and indexing can limit the generalizability and usability of these filters. This potential for variability should be considered when deciding to incorporate a search filter into any literature search. This research highlights the importance of this awareness when developing strategies for searching the published literature and the potential value of supplementing database searching with other methods of study identification.
本研究探讨了检索过滤器在识别MEDLINE索引的健康促进研究中性别特异性数据方面的有效性。
进行文献检索，以确定关于患者或消费者对结直肠癌筛查、营养标签和流感疫苗接种的态度及行为的研究。报告性别特异性结果数据的出版物构成了本研究的金标准。计算先前发表的性别特异性过滤器以及各个过滤器组成术语的敏感性和精确性，并与先前研究中确定的值进行比较。
已发表的性别过滤器的敏感性和精确性因主题而异。敏感性值范围为14.3%至92.5%，而精确性范围为17.9%至51.4%。与先前研究报告相比，这些过滤器在识别相关研究方面的敏感性和精确性较低。此外，虽然MEDLINE医学主题词（MeSH）术语“性别因素”在所有单个过滤器术语中平均精确性最高（59.3%），但MEDLINE检查标签“女性”的平均敏感性最高（90.1%），各主题的平均精确性为25.0%。
尽管检索过滤器有助于识别研究证据以支持决策，但研究摘要和索引的变异性可能会限制这些过滤器的通用性和可用性。在决定将检索过滤器纳入任何文献检索时，应考虑这种变异性的可能性。这项研究突出了在制定已发表文献检索策略时这种意识的重要性，以及用其他研究识别方法补充数据库检索的潜在价值。
