Developing Search Strategies: Pointers from a Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Development and execution of an optimal search strategy forms an essential phase of a systematic review . The basis to devise such a search strategy is the design of a clearly defined research question that encompasses the components of PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome). The present paper explains the development of a search strategy to access articles that are relevant to the review question and is an excerpt from a systematic review that was conducted by the authors.

Methodology : The search strategy was developed using the components of PICO. Databases available in the institutional library were searched for relevant articles. The search was executed following the procedure specified by the respective databases. Unpublished articles were also searched for relevant articles.

Results: The search strategy that was devised enabled the retrieval of the relevant articles that were in accordance to the review question. A total of 574 articles were retrieved from four databases and no relevant articles were retrieved from grey literature. Though no specific filters were used while searching for the articles, all the retrieved articles relevant to the review question were diagnostic test studies. The thus retrieved articles were then screened by their titles and abstracts f ollow ed by their quality assessment by the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies - 2 (QUA DA S 2) tool.

Conclusion: This paper highlights a search strategy that is used in systematic reviews. In addition, paper also report a finding that filters need not be always used for the retrieval of relevant articles.