Duke University Medical Center Library Online

EBM Filters/Strategies

The following filters were developed by Dr. Brian Haynes and Ann McKibbon from McMaster University. They are designed to retrieve high quality evidence from published studies appropriate to decision-making (e.g. clinical trials for diagnosis, cohort studies for prognosis, etc.) from the Medline databases.

It is important to realize that these are strategies to be used in combination with a subject search strategy which should be done first to retrieve as much information as possible relevant to the subject.

SENSITIVITY or COMPREHENSIVE RETRIEVAL retrieves as many documents as possible on a topic. This is also referred to as "recall" and usually retrieves a larger number of hits.
SPECIFICITY or RELEVANCE retrieves as many relevant documents as possible. This is often referred to as "precision" and usually retrieves a smaller number of hits, although a larger proportion of them will be highly relevant.

EBM Strategies:

EBMDX1
use for information on diagnostic tests emphasizing comprehensive retrieval.

    1   "Sensitivity and specificity"/                                
    2   sensitivity.ti,ab,sh.                                        
    3   di.fs.                                                        
    4   ri.fs.                                                        
    5   du.fs.                                                      
    6   specificity.ti,ab,sh.                                   
    7   1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6

EBMDX2
use for information on diagnostic test emphasizing relevance.

    1   exp sensitivity-and-specificity/                              
    2   (predictive and value$).tw.                                
    3   1 or 2

EBMET1
use for information on etiology, causation, or harm favoring comprehensive retrieval.

    1   exp cohort-studies/                                           
    2   exp risk/                                                   
    3   (odds and ratio$).ti,ab,sh.                                   
    4   (relative and risk).ti,ab,sh.                                 
    5   (case and control$).ti,ab,sh.                                
    6   1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5

EBMET2
use for information regarding etiology, causation, or harm emphasizing relevance.

    1   Case-Control Studies/                                        
    2   Cohort Studies/                                             
    3   1 or 2

EBMPRO1
use for information on prognosis favoring comprehensive retrieval.

    1   incidence.ti,ab,sh.                                          
    2   prognos$.ti,ab,sh.                                            
    3   predict$.ti,ab,sh.                                          
    4   course.ti,ab,sh.                                            
    5   exp mortality/                                              
    6   Follow-Up Studies/                                          
    7   mo.fs.                                                       
    8   1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7

EBMPRO2
use for information on prognosis favoring relevance.

    1   Survival Analysis/                                         
    2   prognosis.ti,ab,sh.                                     
    3   1 or 2

EBMRCT
use for information limited to randomized clinical trials and controlled studies.

    1   randomized-controlled-trial (pt)                              
    2   meta-analysis (pt)                                         
    3   controlled-clinical-trial (pt)                                
    4   clinical-trial (pt)                                           
    5   random$.ti,ab,sh.                                             
    6   (meta-anal$ or metaanaly$ or meta analy$).ti,ab,sh.         
    7   ((doubl$ or singl$) and blind$).ti,ab,sh.                     
    8   exp Clinical trials/                                       
    9   crossover.ti,ab,sh.                                          
   10  1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 or 9

EBMRCTF
Faster version -- use for information limited to randomized clinical trials and controlled studies as a publication type or subject heading only.

   1  exp Clinical trials/ 
   2  (clinical trial or controlled clinical trial).pt. 
   3  (meta analysis or multicenter study).pt. 
   4  randomized controlled trial.pt. 
   5  1 or 2 or 3 or 4

EBMSYS
use for information limited to systematic reviews.

    1   Review-academic (pt)                                          
    2   review-tutorial (pt)                                     
    3   (systematic$ and (review$ or overview$)).ti,ab,sh.           
    4   (meta-anal$ or metaanaly$ or meta analy$).ti,ab,sh.          
    5   1 or 2 or 3 or 4

EBMTX1
use for information on therapy favoring comprehensive retrieval.

    1   random$.ti,ab,sh.                                            
    2   tu.fs.                                                      
    3   dt.fs.                                                      
    4   randomized controlled trial.pt.                               
    5   1 or 2 or 3 or 4

EBMTX2
use for information on therapy favoring relevance.

    1   (double and blind$).ti,ab,sh.                                
    2   placebo$.ti,ab,sh.                                           
    3   1 or 2