PubMed had a higher sensitivity than Ovid-MEDLINE in the search for systematic reviews
Abstract
Objective To compare the performance of Ovid-MEDLINE vs. PubMed for identifying randomized controlled trials of methotrexate (MTX) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Study design and setting We created search strategies for Ovid-MEDLINE and PubMed for a systematic review of MTX in RA. Their performance was evaluated using sensitivity, precision, and number needed to read (NNR).Results Comparing searches in Ovid-MEDLINE vs. PubMed, PubMed retrieved more citations overall than Ovid-MEDLINE; however, of the 20 citations that met eligibility criteria for the review, Ovid-MEDLINE retrieved 17 and PubMed 18. The sensitivity was 85% for Ovid-MEDLINE vs. 90% for PubMed, whereas the precision and NNR were comparable (precision: 0.881% for Ovid-MEDLINE vs. 0.884% for PubMed and NNR: 114 for Ovid-MEDLINE vs. 113 for PubMed).Conclusion In systematic reviews of RA, PubMed has higher sensitivity than Ovid-MEDLINE with comparable precision and NNR. This study highlights the importance of well-designed database-specific search strategies.
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PubMed has a higher sensitivity than Medline.
“Cochrane recommends Medline and thus Medline coverage is of great importance, however, PubMed has a higher sensitivity than Medline (46) and many researchers as well as clinicians use PubMed.”
From PubMed coverage varied across specialties and over time: a large-scale study of included studies in Cochrane reviews (2019) · cites this paper as [46]
Cites
Systematic Reviews: Identifying relevant studies for systematic reviews
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How to identify randomized controlled trials in MEDLINE: ten years on.
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Wilczynski, N. L., Haynes, R. B., & the Hedges Team (2004) · BMC Medicine · doi:10.1186/1741-7015-2-23 · Cited by 291 · see citing works
Katchamart, W., Trudeau, J., Phumethum, V., & Bombardier, C. (2008) · Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases · doi:10.1136/ard.2008.099861 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
Self-citationIdentifying Diagnostic Studies in MEDLINE: Reducing the Number Needed to Read
Bachmann, L. M. (2002) · Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association · doi:10.1197/jamia.m1124 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Sampson, M., Zhang, L., Morrison, A., Barrowman, N. J., Clifford, T., Platt, R. W., Klassen, T. P., & Moher, D. (2006) · BMC Medical Research Methodology · doi:10.1186/1471-2288-6-33 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
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Optimizing search strategies to identify randomized controlled trials in MEDLINE
Zhang, L., Ajiferuke, I., & Sampson, M. (2006) · BMC Medical Research Methodology · doi:10.1186/1471-2288-6-23 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Ichikawa, Y., Saito, T., Yamanaka, H., et al. (2005) · Modern Rheumatology · doi:10.1007/s10165-005-0420-z · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Haynes, R. B., & Wilczynski, N. L. (2004) · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Long-term methotrexate (MTX) combination therapy versus MTX alone for active rheumatoid arthritis
Hanyu, T., Arai, K., & Ishikawa, H. (1999) · Japanese Journal of Rheumatology · doi:10.1007/bf03041257 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Cooper, C., Booth, A., Varley-Campbell, J., Britten, N., & Garside, R. (2018) · BMC Medical Research Methodology · doi:10.1186/s12874-018-0545-3 · Cited by 561 · see citing works
Errors in search strategies used in systematic reviews and their effects on information retrieval
Salvador-Oliván, J. A., Marco-Cuenca, G., & Arquero-Avilés, R. (2019) · Journal of the Medical Library Association · doi:10.5195/jmla.2019.567 · Cited by 199 · see citing works
Beyer, F. R., & Wright, K. (2013) · Health Information & Libraries Journal · doi:10.1111/hir.12009 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Frandsen, T. F., Eriksen, M. B., Hammer, D. M. G., & Christensen, J. B. (2019) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2019.04.015 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
- Authors
- Katchamart, W., Faulkner, A., Feldman, B., Tomlinson, G., & Bombardier, C.
- Affiliations
- Siriraj Hospital (TH)
- University Health Network (CA)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Katchamart, Wanruchada
- Venue
- Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-07
- Volume
- 64
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 805-807
- ISSN
- 0895-4356 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2082561471
- Cited by
- 25
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 0.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Clinical Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Information Retrieval and Search Behavior
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › scientometrics and bibliometrics research
- Keywords
- PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, database comparison, search sensitivity, search precision, number needed to read, rheumatoid arthritis, methotrexate, randomized controlled trials
- MeSH terms
- Arthritis, Rheumatoid, Humans, Methotrexate, Sensitivity and Specificity, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, MEDLINE, Treatment Outcome, Antirheumatic Agents, PubMed
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