Centre for Reviews and Dissemination

RCTs and other trials

Evaluations of the performance of filters can be found below the table.

Database	Filter
CINAHL	SIGN strategy [undated] [Ovid] Wong SS, Wilczynski NL, Haynes RB. Optimal CINAHL search strategies for identifying therapy studies and review articles. Journal of Nursing Scholarship 2006;38(2):194-9.
EMBASE	Wong SS, Wilczynski NL, Haynes RB. Developing optimal search strategies for detecting clinically sound treatment studies in EMBASE. Journal of the Medical Library Association 2006;94(1):41-7. [Ovid] Galandi D, Bassler D, Antes G. Identifying randomized controlled trials published in German general health care journals using Medline and Embase: how useful is the controlled vocabulary? [abstract] 8th Cochrane Colloquium; 2000 October 25-29; Cape Town, South Africa. Watson RJ, Richardson PH. Identifying randomized controlled trials of cognitive therapy for depression: comparing the efficiency of Embase, Medline and PsycINFO bibliographic databases. British Journal of Medical Psychology 1999;72(4):535-42. [RCTs of cognitive therapy for depression] [Ovid] Burdett S, Stewart LA, Tierney JF. Searching bibliographic databases: costs and benefits [abstract]. 2nd International Conference. Scientific Basis of Health Services & 5th Cochrane Colloquium; October 1997; Amsterdam, The Netherlands. BMJ Clinical Evidence strategy [undated] [Ovid] SIGN strategy [undated] [Ovid]
LILACS	Manríquez JJ. A highly sensitive search strategy for clinical trials in Literatura Latino Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS) was developed. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 2008;61(4):407-11. de Freitas AE, Herbert RD, Latimer J, Ferreira PH. Searching the LILACS database for Portuguese- and Spanish-language randomized trials in physiotherapy was difficult. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 2005;58(3):233-7. [RCTs in physiotherapy] Castro AA, Clark OA, Atallah AN. Optimal search strategy for clinical trials in the Latin American and Caribbean Health Science Literature database (LILACS database): update. Sao Paulo Medical Journal 1999;117(3):138-9. Castro AA, Clark OA, Atallah AN. Optimal search strategy for clinical trials in the Latin American and Caribbean Health Science Literature Database (LILACS). Sao Paulo Medical Journal 1997;115(3):1423-6.
MEDLINE	Lefebvre C, Manheimer E, Glanville J. Chapter 6: searching for studies. In: Higgins JPT, Green S, editors. Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions. Version 5.0.2 [updated September 2009]. The Cochrane Collaboration, 2009 Eisinga A, Siegfried N, Clarke M. The sensitivity and precision of search terms in phases I, II and III of the Cochrane Highly Sensitive Search Strategy for identifying reports of randomized trials in MEDLINE in a specific area of health care- HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment interventions. Health Information and Libraries Journal 2007;24(2):103-09. [RCT and CCTs in HIV/AIDS interventions] [PubMed] Grady EBM strategy [2007] [Ovid] Royle PL, Waugh NR. Making literature searches easier: a rapid and sensitive search filter for retrieving randomized controlled trials from PubMed. Diabetic Medicine 2007;24(3):308-11 [PubMed] Corrao S, Colomba D, Arnone S, Argano C, Di Chiara T, Scaglione R, Licata G. Improving efficacy of PubMed clinical queries for retrieving scientifically strong studies on treatment. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 2006;13:485-7. [PubMed] Glanville JM, Lefebvre C, Miles JN, Camosso-Stefinovic J. How to identify randomized controlled trials in MEDLINE: ten years on. Journal of the Medical Library Association 2006;94(2):130-6. Erratum: Journal of the Medical Library Association 2006;94(3):354. Zhang L, Ajiferuke I, Sampson M. Optimizing search strategies to identify randomized controlled trials in MEDLINE. BMC Medical Research Methodology 2006;6:23. [Ovid] Haynes RB, McKibbon KA, Wilczynski NL, Walter SD, Werre SR, Hedges Team. Optimal search strategies for retrieving scientifically strong studies of treatment from Medline: analytical survey. BMJ 2005;330(7501):1179. [PubMed] Royle P, Waugh N. A simplified search strategy for identifying randomised controlled trials for systematic reviews of health care interventions: a comparison with more exhaustive strategies. BMC Medical Research Methodology 2005;5:23. [Ovid] Heran B S, Wright J M. Development of an optimal search strategy for finding trials demonstrating ACE inhibitor blood pressure lowering efficacy [poster]. 10th Cochrane Colloquium; 2002 July 31 - August 3; Stavanger, Norway. [RCTs in hypertension treatment] [Ovid] Robinson KA, Dickersin K. Development of a highly sensitive search strategy for the retrieval of reports of controlled trials using PubMed. International Journal of Epidemiology 2002; 31(1):150-3. [Controlled trials] [PubMed] Chow T, To E, Goodchild C, McNeil J. Improved indexing of randomised controlled trials has enabled computer search strategies to identify them with high sensitivity and specificity, in pain relief research [abstract]. 8th Cochrane Colloquium; 2000 October 25-29; Cape Town, South Africa. [Ovid] Dumbrigue HB, Esquivel JF, Jones JS. Assessment of MEDLINE search strategies for randomized controlled trials in prosthodontics. Journal of Prosthodontics 2000;9(1):8-13. [RCTs in prosthodontics] Galandi D, Bassler D, Antes G. Identifying randomized controlled trials published in German general health care journals using Medline and Embase: how useful is the controlled vocabulary? [abstract] 8th International Cochrane Colloquium; 2000 October 25-29; Cape Town, South Africa. Watson RJ, Richardson PH. Identifying randomized controlled trials of cognitive therapy for depression: comparing the efficiency of Embase, Medline and PsycINFO bibliographic databases. British Journal of Medical Psychology 1999;72(4):535-42. [RCTs of cognitive therapy for depression] [Ovid] Brand M, Gonzalez J, Aguilar C. Identifying RCTs in MEDLINE by publication type and through the Cochrane Strategy: the case in hypertension [abstract]. 6th Annual Cochrane Colloquium; October 1998; Baltimore, USA. [RCTs in hypertension] Bender JS, Halpern SH, Thangaroopan M, Jadad AR, Ohlsson A. Quality and retrieval of obstetrical anaesthesia randomized controlled trials. Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia 1997; 44(1):14-8. [RCTs in obstetrical anaesthesia] Burdett S, Stewart LA, Tierney JF. Searching bibliographic databases: costs and benefits [abstract]. 2nd International Conference. Scientific Basis of Health Services & 5th Annual Cochrane Colloquium; October 1997; Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Duggan LM, Morris M, Adams CE. Prevalence study of the randomized controlled trials in the Journal of Intellectual Disability Research: 1957-1994. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 1997;41(3):232-237. [SilverPlatter] McDonald S, Clarke M, Lefebvre C. Should we continue to handsearch MEDLINE-indexed journals prospectively? Some up-to-date empirical evidence [abstract]. 2nd International Conference. Scientific Basis of Health Services & 5th Cochrane Colloquium; October 1997; Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Marson A G, Chadwick D W. How easy are randomized controlled trials in epilepsy to find on Medline? The sensitivity and precision of two Medline searches. Epilepsia 1996;37(4):377-380. [RCTs in epilepsy] [SilverPlatter] Adams CE, Power A, Frederick K, Lefebvre C. An investigation of the adequacy of MEDLINE searches for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of the effects of mental health care. Psychological Medicine 1994; 24(3):741-8. Dickersin K, Scherer R, Lefebvre C. Identifying relevant studies for systematic reviews. BMJ 1994;309(6964):1286-91. Haynes R, Wilczynski N, McKibbon K, Walker C, Sinclair J. Developing optimal search strategies for detecting clinically sound studies in MEDLINE. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 1994;1:447-458. [Treatment including RCTs] Solomon MJ, Laxamana A, Devore L, McLeod RS. Randomized controlled trials in surgery. Surgery 1994;115(6):707-12. [RCTs in surgery] Gøtzsche PC, Lange B. Comparison of search strategies for recalling double-blind trials from MEDLINE. Danish Medical Bulletin 1991;38:476-8. [Double-blind trials] Kirpalani H, Schmidt B, McKibbon KA, Haynes RB, Sinclair J C. Searching MEDLINE for randomized clinical trials involving care of the newborn. Pediatrics 1989;83(4):543-546. [RCTs in care of the newborn] [Grateful Med] Bernstein F. The retrieval of randomized clinical trials in liver diseases from the medical literature: manual versus MEDLARS searches. Controlled Clinical Trials 1988; 9(1):23-31. [RCTs in liver diseases] [MEDLARS] Dickersin K, Hewitt P, Mutch L, Chalmers I, Chalmers TC. Perusing the literature: comparison of MEDLINE searching with a perinatal trials database. Controlled Clinical Trials 1985;6(4):306-17. Poynard T, Conn HO. The retrieval of randomized clinical trials in liver disease from the medical literature. A comparison of MEDLARS and manual methods. Controlled Clinical Trials 1985;6(4):271-9. [RCTs in liver diseases] [MEDLARS] BMJ Clinical Evidence strategy [undated] [Ovid] SIGN strategy [undated] [Ovid]
PsycINFO	Eady AM, Wilczynski NL, Haynes RB. PsycINFO search strategies identified methodologically sound therapy studies and review articles for use by clinicians and researchers. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 2008;61(1):34-40. [Ovid] Watson RJ, Richardson PH. Identifying randomized controlled trials of cognitive therapy for depression: comparing the efficiency of Embase, Medline and PsycINFO bibliographic databases. British Journal of Medical Psychology 1999;72(4):535-42. [RCTs of cognitive therapy for depression] [Ovid] Duggan LM, Morris M, Adams CE. Prevalence study of the randomized controlled trials in the Journal of Intellectual Disability Research: 1957-1994. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 1997;41(3):232-7. [SilverPlatter]

Evaluations of the performance of RCT filters

McKibbon KA, Wilczynski N L, Haynes R B. Retrieving randomized controlled trials from medline: a comparison of 38 published search filters. Health Information and Libraries Journal 2009; 26(3):187-202.
Anthony D, Hill S, Johnson K, Stokes B. A better gold pan: capturing RCTs with more precision. 13th Cochrane Colloquium; 2005 October 22-26; Melbourne, Australia.
Bardia A, Wahner-Roedler DL, Erwin PL, Sood A. Search strategies for retrieving complementary and alternative medicine clinical trials in oncology. Integr Cancer Ther 2006;5(3):202-5.
Sampson M, Zhang L, Ajiferuke I, Sampson M. Optimizing search strategies to identify randomized controlled trials in MEDLINE. 12th Cochrane Colloquium; 2004 October 2-6; Ottawa, Canada.