Identifying studies for systematic reviews. An example from medical imaging.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if published figures on the proportion of articles included in systematic reviews and identified in electronic databases are applicable to an example from medical imaging.


METHODS
A systematic review was performed. Additionally, sensitivity and precision of a MEDLINE search were compared with values from three published searches, each customized for a specific field.


RESULTS
All articles included in the systematic review were in electronic databases. The MEDLINE search had low precision compared with searches in other fields.


CONCLUSIONS
In a specific area of medical imaging, electronic databases, including MEDLINE, are reliable sources of articles.
Berry
E
E
University of Leeds.
Kelly
S
S
Hutton
J
J
Harris
K M
KM
Smith
M A
MA
D015706:Bibliometrics; D019160:Endosonography; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D016239:MEDLINE / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D012196:Review Literature as Topic