ArticleBMC medical research methodology2005
A simplified search strategy for identifying randomised controlled trials for systematic reviews of health care interventions: a comparison with more exhaustive strategies.
Article in BMC medical research methodology, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effect of Anti-Inflammatory Treatment on Depressive Symptom Severity and Anhedonia in Depressed Individuals With Elevated Inflammation: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.The American journal of psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Interventions to enhance self-efficacy in cancer patients: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Psycho-oncology · 2019Pooled it
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- Mind-body interventions for fear of cancer recurrence: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Psycho-oncology · 2018Pooled it
- Exercise in the treatment of clinical anxiety in general practice - a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC health services research · 2018Pooled it
- Do Exercise Interventions Improve Participation in Life Roles in Older Adults? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Physical therapy · 2017Pooled it
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- Telephone based self-management support by 'lay health workers' and 'peer support workers' to prevent and manage vascular diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC health services research · 2013Pooled it
- Identifying psychosocial interventions that improve both physical and mental health in patients with diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Diabetes care · 2010Pooled it
- Can the feedback of patient assessments, brief training, or their combination, improve the interpersonal skills of primary care physicians? A systematic review.BMC health services research · 2008Pooled it
- An exploration of available methods and tools to improve the efficiency of systematic review production: a scoping review.BMC medical research methodology · 2024Article
- How to appraise the literature: basic principles for the busy clinician - part 2: systematic reviews and meta-analyses.British dental journal · 2022Article
- Effects of probiotics on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Therapeutic advances in gastroenterology · 2019Article
- A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Effects of Meditation on Empathy, Compassion, and Prosocial Behaviors.Mindfulness · 2018Article
- Efficiency and contribution of strategies for finding randomized controlled trials: a case study from a systematic review on therapeutic interventions of chronic depression.Journal of public health research · 2014Article
- Enhancing access to reports of randomized trials published world-wide--the contribution of EMBASE records to the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in The Cochrane Library.Emerging themes in epidemiology · 2008Article
- Identifying observational studies of surgical interventions in MEDLINE and EMBASE.BMC medical research methodology · 2006Article
- Qigong and Tai Chi for ME/CFS: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Global advances in integrative medicine and healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIt is generally believed that exhaustive searches of bibliographic databases are needed for systematic reviews of health care interventions. The CENTRAL database of controlled trials (RCTs) has been built up by exhaustive searching. The CONSORT statement aims to encourage better reporting, and hence indexing, of RCTs. Our aim was to assess whether developments in the CENTRAL database, and the CONSORT statement, mean that a simplified RCT search strategy for identifying RCTs now suffices for systematic reviews of health care interventions.
methodsRCTs used in the Cochrane reviews were identified. A brief RCT search strategy (BRSS), consisting of a search of CENTRAL, and then for variants of the word random across all fields (random$.af.) in MEDLINE and EMBASE, was devised and run. Any trials included in the meta-analyses, but missed by the BRSS, were identified. The meta-analyses were then re-run, with and without the missed RCTs, and the differences quantified. The proportion of trials with variants of the word random in the title or abstract was calculated for each year. The number of RCTs retrieved by searching with "random$.af." was compared to the highly sensitive search strategy (HSSS).
resultsThe BRSS had a sensitivity of 94%. It found all journal RCTs in 47 of the 57 reviews. The missing RCTs made some significant differences to a small proportion of the total outcomes in only five reviews, but no important differences in conclusions resulted. In the post-CONSORT years, 1997-2003, the percentage of RCTs with random in the title or abstract was 85%, a mean increase of 17% compared to the seven years pre-CONSORT (95% CI, 8.3% to 25.9%). The search using random$.af. reduced the MEDLINE retrieval by 84%, compared to the HSSS, thereby reducing the workload of checking retrievals.
conclusionA brief RCT search strategy is now sufficient to locate RCTs for systematic reviews in most cases. Exhaustive searching is no longer cost-effective, because in effect it has already been done for CENTRAL.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.