title: Efficient strategies to find diagnostic test accuracy studies in kidney journals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Nephrologists looking for quick answers to diagnostic clinical questions in MEDLINE can use a range of published search strategies or Clinical Query limits to improve the precision of their searches. We aimed to evaluate existing search strategies for finding diagnostic test accuracy studies in nephrology journals.
  
  
  METHODS
  We assessed the accuracy of 14 search strategies for retrieving diagnostic test accuracy studies from three nephrology journals indexed in MEDLINE. Two investigators hand searched the same journals to create a reference set of diagnostic test accuracy studies to compare search strategy results against.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 103 diagnostic test accuracy studies, accounting for 2.1% of all studies published. The most specific search strategy was the Narrow Clinical Queries limit (sensitivity: 0.20, 95% CI 0.13-0.29; specificity: 0.99, 95% CI 0.99-0.99). Using the Narrow Clinical Queries limit, a searcher would need to screen three (95% CI 2-6) articles to find one diagnostic study. The most sensitive search strategy was van der Weijden 1999 Extended (sensitivity: 0.95; 95% CI 0.89-0.98; specificity 0.55, 95% CI 0.53-0.56) but required a searcher to screen 24 (95% CI 23-26) articles to find one diagnostic study. Bachmann 2002 was the best balanced search strategy, which was sensitive (0.88, 95% CI 0.81-0.94), but also specific (0.74, 95% CI 0.73-0.75), with a number needed to screen of 15 (95% CI 14-17).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Diagnostic studies are infrequently published in nephrology journals. The addition of a strategy for diagnostic studies to a subject search strategy in MEDLINE may reduce the records needed to screen while preserving adequate search sensitivity for routine clinical use.
authors.affiliation: The Centre for Kidney Research, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.|Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Rogerson
authors.affiliation: The Centre for Kidney Research, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.|Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Maleeka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ladhani
authors.affiliation: The Centre for Kidney Research, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.affiliation: The Centre for Kidney Research, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.|Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Jonathan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Craig
authors.affiliation: The Centre for Kidney Research, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.|Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.|Centre for Transplant and Renal Research, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Angela C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Webster
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D057225:Data Mining / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007677:Kidney Function Tests; D016239:MEDLINE; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
keywords: MEDLINE; diagnosis; information storage and retrieval; literature searching; sensitivity and specificity