Hello, everyone. I was doing a search and noticed a possible problem
with the Ovid specific filter not retrieving all the entries for the
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (DSR). I am concerned about
that, as I feel that DSR represents the highest level of evidence.
Also, the diagnosis sensitive filter seemed to retrieve an excessive
number of non-diagnosis entries. So, I ran a search in Ovid MEDLINE
(66-present) with:
"Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews".so.
limited to the diagnosis sensitive filter
limited to the diagnosis specific filter
limited to the diagnosis optimized filter
The sensitive filter for diagnosis got 540 hits, but most pertained to
therapy; only about 24 were solely about diagnosis. The specific filter
retrieved 5 hits; only 1 was on diagnosis. The optimized filter for
diagnosis retrieved 226 hits; only 8 were on diagnosis. Here's a few
titles retrieved by the sensitive filter yet NOT retrieved by the
sensitive or optimized diagnosis filter:
Powell C. Wedner S. Richardson S. Screening for correctable visual
acuity deficits in school-age children and adolescents. [Review] [47
refs] [Journal Article. Review] Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
(1):CD005023, 2005.
Kujan O. Glenny AM. Duxbury AJ. Thakker N. Sloan P. Screening programmes
for the early detection and prevention of oral cancer.[see comment].
[Review] [116 refs] [Journal Article. Review] Cochrane Database of
Systematic Reviews. (4):CD004150, 2003.
Neilson JP. Biochemical tests of placental function for assessment in
pregnancy.[update of Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2000;(2):CD000108;
PMID: 10796131]. [Review] [15 refs] [Journal Article. Review] Cochrane
Database of Systematic Reviews. (2):CD000108, 2003.
I was curious if additional DSR entries are found without using the Ovid
filters, so I did a NOT search with common keywords related to diagnosis
in the title (assess$ or screen$ or test$ or diagn$ or imag$ or
ultrasound$ or x-ray$ or xray$). About 13 additional entries were found
this way, such as: Olsen O. Gotzsche PC. Screening for breast cancer
with mammography. [Review] [147 refs] [Journal Article. Review] Cochrane
Database of Systematic Reviews. (4):CD001877, 2001.
I just thought I'd give you a heads up for your patrons, as they may be
mislead into thinking their filtered MEDLINE search retrieves all
Cochrane systematic reviews. Besides doing an Ovid MEDLINE search with
the filters, s/he should also search Ovid's DSR database.
Have a great weekend,
Tanya
Tanya Feddern, MLIS, AHIP, MOT, OTR/L
http://www.geocities.com/nqiya/EBMbib.html
http://www.geocities.com/nqiya/index.html
Evidence-Based Medicine Assistant Professor; Reference & Education
Services Librarian
University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, Louis Calder
Memorial Library
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