title: PubMed search filters for the study of putative outdoor air pollution determinants of disease.
abstract: Several PubMed search filters have been developed in contexts other than environmental. We aimed at identifying efficient PubMed search filters for the study of environmental determinants of diseases related to outdoor air pollution.
  
  
  
  We compiled a list of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and non-MeSH terms seeming pertinent to outdoor air pollutants exposure as determinants of diseases in the general population. We estimated proportions of potentially pertinent articles to formulate two filters (one 'more specific', one 'more sensitive'). Their overall performance was evaluated as compared with our gold standard derived from systematic reviews on diseases potentially related to outdoor air pollution. We tested these filters in the study of three diseases potentially associated with outdoor air pollution and calculated the number of needed to read (NNR) abstracts to identify one potentially pertinent article in the context of these diseases. Last searches were run in January 2016.
  
  
  
  The 'more specific' filter was based on the combination of terms that yielded a threshold of potentially pertinent articles ≥40%. The 'more sensitive' filter was based on the combination of all search terms under study. When compared with the gold standard, the 'more specific' filter reported the highest specificity (67.4%; with a sensitivity of 82.5%), while the 'more sensitive' one reported the highest sensitivity (98.5%; with a specificity of 47.9%). The NNR to find one potentially pertinent article was 1.9 for the 'more specific' filter and 3.3 for the 'more sensitive' one.
  
  
  
  The proposed search filters could help healthcare professionals investigate environmental determinants of medical conditions that could be potentially related to outdoor air pollution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Curti
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gori
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Di Gregori
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farioli
authors.affiliation: Tuscany Regional Centre for Occupational Injuries and Diseases (CeRIMP), Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baldasseroni
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Pia
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Fantini
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Christiani
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Violante
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mattioli
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D046650:Medical Subject Headings; D039781:PubMed; D012106:Research; D057386:Search Engine / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants
keywords: PREVENTIVE MEDICINE; STATISTICS & RESEARCH METHODS