Sources of information on adverse effects: a systematic review.
BACKGROUND
Systematic reviews can provide accurate and timely information on adverse effects. An essential part of the systematic review process is a thorough search of the literature. This often requires searching many different sources. However, it is unclear which sources are most effective at providing information on adverse effects.


OBJECTIVE
To identify and summarise studies that have evaluated sources of information on adverse effects.


METHODS
Studies were located by searching in 10 databases as well as by reference checking, hand searching, citation searching and contacting experts.


RESULTS
A total of 6218 citations were retrieved yielding 19 studies which met the inclusion criteria. The included studies tended to focus on the adverse effects of drug interventions and compare the relative value of different sources using the number of relevant references retrieved from searches of each source. However, few studies were conducted recently with a large sample of references.


CONCLUSIONS
This review suggests that embase, Derwent Drug File, medline and industry submissions may potentially provide the greatest number of relevant references for information on adverse effects of drugs. However, a systematic evaluation of the current value of different sources of information for adverse effects is urgently required.
Golder
Su
S
Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD), University of York, York, UK. spg3@york.ac.uk
Loke
Yoon K
YK
D022126:Access to Information; D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions / Q000453:epidemiology*; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D016239:MEDLINE / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055553:Prescription Drugs; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
D055553:Prescription Drugs