[Hand searching for controlled clinical trials in German surgical journals. A contribution to evidence-based surgery].
BACKGROUND
The identification of all available and relevant study reports is mandatory for a comprehensive assessment of randomised (RCTs) and controlled clinical trials (CCTs) in systematic reviews. Incomplete compilation of health care journals in electronic databases and incorrect indexing of the studies impair the result of a systematic literature search. An additional search in medical journals that are not listed in electronic databases can obtain higher search precision.


METHODS
In the hand searching project of the Cochrane Collaboration, in Germany 14 surgical journals were searched manually for RCTs and CCTs. The identified study reports were compared with Medline records, and the publication frequency was analysed. The study reports were published in the Cochrane Library and are henceforth available for inclusion in systematic reviews.


RESULTS
Four hundred (77%) of the 519 published volumes in the 14 surgical journals were searched for RCTs and CCTs. Of the 1152 controlled trials (670 RCTs and 482 CCTs) identified, 674 (58%) were not included in Medline.


CONCLUSIONS
The gap between the number of hand search results and the number of Medline indexed RCTs and CCTs is also reflected in other special medical fields. To ensure completeness of the literature compilation, the hand searching project should be continued.
Blümle
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A
Deutsches Cochrane Zentrum, Abteilung für Medizinische Biometrie und Statistik, Institut für Medizinische Biometrie und Informatik, Universitätsklinikum, Stefan-Meier-Strasse 26, Freiburg, Germany. bluemle@cochrane.de
Antes
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Diener
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D000043:Abstracting and Indexing / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015982:Bias; D018849:Controlled Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D013502:General Surgery / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016239:MEDLINE / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States