The sensitivity and precision of search terms in Phases I, II and III of the Cochrane Highly Sensitive Search Strategy for identifying reports of randomized trials in medline in a specific area of health care--HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment interventions.
OBJECTIVE
To detect term(s) in the Cochrane Highly Sensitive Search Strategy (HSSS) that retain high sensitivity but improve precision in retrieving reports of trials in the PubMed version of medline.


METHODS
Individual terms from the PubMed version of the HSSS were added, term by term, to an African HIV/AIDS strategy to identify reports of trials in medline using PubMed. The titles and abstracts of the records retrieved were read by two handsearchers and checked by a clinical epidemiologist. The sensitivity and precision of each term in the three phases of the HSSS were calculated.


RESULTS
Of 7,719 records retrieved, 285 were identified as reports of trials [204 randomized (RCTs); 81 possibly randomized or quasi-randomized (CCTs)]. Phase III had the highest sensitivity (92%). Overall, precision was very low (3.7%). One term, 'random*[tw]', retrieved all RCTs found by our search and improved precision to 29%. The least sensitive terms, yielding no records, were '(doubl* AND mask*)[tw]' and terms containing 'trebl*' or 'tripl*', except for '(tripl* AND blind*)[tw]'. The highest precision per term was for 'Double-blind Method [MeSH]' (76%).


CONCLUSIONS
To retrieve all RCTs and CCTs found by our search, seven terms are needed but precision remains low (4.3%). Developments in the methods of search strategy design may help to improve precision while retaining high levels of sensitivity by identifying term(s) which occur frequently in relevant records and are the most efficient at discriminating between different study designs.
Eisinga
Anne
A
UK Cochrane Centre, Summertown Pavilion, Middle Way, Oxford, UK. aeisinga@cochrane.co.uk
Siegfried
Nandi
N
Clarke
Mike
M
D000043:Abstracting and Indexing; D015706:Bibliometrics; D017321:Clinical Trials, Phase I as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017322:Clinical Trials, Phase II as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017326:Clinical Trials, Phase III as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D016239:MEDLINE / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D046650:Medical Subject Headings; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity