Optimal search strategies for identifying moderators and predictors of treatment effects in PubMed

Tummers, Marcia; Hoorn, Ralph van; Levering, Charlotte; Wilt, Gert Jan van der; Kievit, Wietske

doi:10.1111/hir.12230

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 217 publications

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“…The search string incorporated into such a filter or special query may even be activated by the automatic term mapping of a single-term search for COVID-19. If using one of the comprehensive search strings tested in this article to create the subject filter, it should be tested against other gold standard data sets for validation [31]. Future research should test more comprehensive search strings to determine which one is best suited for searching the literature base.…”

Section: Implications For Pubmed Users and Nlmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Searching PubMed to Retrieve Publications on the COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparative Analysis of Search Strings (Preprint)

Lazarus¹,

Palayew²,

Rasmussen³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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BACKGROUND The ability to efficiently search the scientific literature is crucial during a pandemic. OBJECTIVE To measure the performance of different searches in PubMed. METHODS We tested PubMed searches for COVID-19 to identify which search strategy performed best according to standard metrics. We evaluated the performance of eight different searches in PubMed during the first ten weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate how complex a search string is needed. We also tested omitting hyphens and space characters as well as applying quotation marks. RESULTS The two most comprehensive search strings performed best, but the single-term search, COVID-19, performed well in terms of sensitivity (98.4/98.7 vs 94.4), positive predictive value (94.6/92.7 vs 95.3), and F-score (96.5/95.7 vs 94.8). We found that deleting a hyphen or space character could omit a substantial number of records. If entered correctly, a single-term search performed well although the number of relevant records would be increased by using a comprehensive search. CONCLUSIONS Expert search terms performed better than single term searches in PubMed, but not by a large margin. For day to day searches single term searches are probably fine whereas for systematic reviews more comprehensive searches should be used.

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Section: Implications For Pubmed Users and Nlmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Searching PubMed to Retrieve Publications on the COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparative Analysis of Search Strings (Preprint)

Lazarus¹,

Palayew²,

Rasmussen³

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Searching PubMed to Retrieve Publications on the COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparative Analysis of Search Strings

Lazarus¹,

Palayew²,

Rasmussen³

et al. 2020

J Med Internet Res

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Background Since it was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, COVID-19 has dominated headlines around the world and researchers have generated thousands of scientific articles about the disease. The fast speed of publication has challenged researchers and other stakeholders to keep up with the volume of published articles. To search the literature effectively, researchers use databases such as PubMed. Objective The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of different searches for COVID-19 records in PubMed and to assess the complexity of searches required. Methods We tested PubMed searches for COVID-19 to identify which search string performed best according to standard metrics (sensitivity, precision, and F-score). We evaluated the performance of 8 different searches in PubMed during the first 10 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate how complex a search string is needed. We also tested omitting hyphens and space characters as well as applying quotation marks. Results The two most comprehensive search strings combining several free-text and indexed search terms performed best in terms of sensitivity (98.4%/98.7%) and F-score (96.5%/95.7%), but the single-term search COVID-19 performed best in terms of precision (95.3%) and well in terms of sensitivity (94.4%) and F-score (94.8%). The term Wuhan virus performed the worst: 7.7% for sensitivity, 78.1% for precision, and 14.0% for F-score. We found that deleting a hyphen or space character could omit a substantial number of records, especially when searching with SARS-CoV-2 as a single term. Conclusions Comprehensive search strings combining free-text and indexed search terms performed better than single-term searches in PubMed, but not by a large margin compared to the single term COVID-19. For everyday searches, certain single-term searches that are entered correctly are probably sufficient, whereas more comprehensive searches should be used for systematic reviews. Still, we suggest additional measures that the US National Library of Medicine could take to support all PubMed users in searching the COVID-19 literature.

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Problem gambling during Covid-19

Frisone

Alibrandi

Salvatore

2020

Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology

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Optimal search strategies for identifying moderators and predictors of treatment effects in PubMed

Cited by 3 publications

References 217 publications

Searching PubMed to Retrieve Publications on the COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparative Analysis of Search Strings (Preprint)

Searching PubMed to Retrieve Publications on the COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparative Analysis of Search Strings (Preprint)

Searching PubMed to Retrieve Publications on the COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparative Analysis of Search Strings

Problem gambling during Covid-19

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