title: Development of a PubMed Based Search Tool for Identifying Sex and Gender Specific Health Literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  An effective literature search strategy is critical to achieving the aims of Sex and Gender Specific Health (SGSH): to understand sex and gender differences through research and to effectively incorporate the new knowledge into the clinical decision making process to benefit both male and female patients. The goal of this project was to develop and validate an SGSH literature search tool that is readily and freely available to clinical researchers and practitioners.
  
  
  METHODS
  PubMed, a freely available search engine for the Medline database, was selected as the platform to build the SGSH literature search tool. Combinations of Medical Subject Heading terms, text words, and title words were evaluated for optimal specificity and sensitivity. The search tool was then validated against reference bases compiled for two disease states, diabetes and stroke.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Key sex and gender terms and limits were bundled to create a search tool to facilitate PubMed SGSH literature searches. During validation, the search tool retrieved 50 of 94 (53.2%) stroke and 62 of 95 (65.3%) diabetes reference articles selected for validation. A general keyword search of stroke or diabetes combined with sex difference retrieved 33 of 94 (35.1%) stroke and 22 of 95 (23.2%) diabetes reference base articles, with lower sensitivity and specificity for SGSH content.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center SGSH PubMed Search Tool provides higher sensitivity and specificity to sex and gender specific health literature. The tool will facilitate research, clinical decision-making, and guideline development relevant to SGSH.
authors.affiliation: 1 Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, School of Medicine and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences , Lubbock, Texas.
authors.forename: Michael M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: 2 Harrington Library of the Health Sciences, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Libraries , Amarillo, Texas.
authors.forename: Cheryl K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Simonsen
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Internal Medicine, Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine , Amarillo, Texas.
authors.forename: Joanna D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Internal Medicine, Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine , Amarillo, Texas.
authors.forename: Marjorie R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Jenkins
mesh_terms: D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D016239:MEDLINE; D008297:Male; D046650:Medical Subject Headings; D009323:Natural Language Processing; D039781:PubMed; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057386:Search Engine; D012737:Sex Factors; D009626:Terminology as Topic