Where and how to search for information on the effectiveness of public health interventions - a case study for prevention of cardiovascular disease
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: This case study documents the experience of searching for information on the effectiveness of population-level multi-factor interventions for the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) to inform guidance from NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence). OBJECTIVES: To compare suitability of different databases for searches on a medical public health topic and performance of sensitive versus specific strategies. METHODS: A sensitive search strategy identified 34 CVD programmes (reference standard) and sensitivity, precision and number needed to read (NNTR) were compared across seven databases. Two alternative strategies were developed to improve precision while minimising the impact on sensitivity. RESULTS: MEDLINE alone retrieved 91% (31/34) relevant programme citations. Four databases (MEDLINE, CENTRAL, ASSIA and PsycINFO) were required to identify all 34 programmes. In the alternative strategies, greater use of MeSH rather than text and focus on terms directed at population-level interventions resulted in a more precise search on MEDLINE. CONCLUSIONS: MEDLINE alone provided a better yield than anticipated. Additional databases improved sensitivity by 9% but to the detriment of precision. Retrospective searching would provide additional insight into the performance of both databases and strategies. How the medical nature of this public health topic affected yield across databases also requires further investigation.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Some studies argue that the contributions from other databases are modest at best.
“However, some studies argue that the contributions from other databases are modest at best (15,23).”
From PubMed coverage varied across specialties and over time: a large-scale study of included studies in Cochrane reviews (2019) · cites this paper as [15]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Hao (2015) · doi:10.1002/14651858 · Cited by 11,321 · see citing works
Greenhalgh, T., & Peacock, R. (2005) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.38636.593461.68 · Cited by 2,045 · see citing works
Egger, M., Jüni, P., Bartlett, C., Holenstein, F., & Sterne, J. (2003) · Health Technology Assessment · doi:10.3310/hta7010 · Cited by 1,181 · see citing works
Royle, P., & Milne, R. (2003) · International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care · doi:10.1017/s0266462303000552 · Cited by 693 · see citing works
Grey literature in meta-analyses of randomized trials of health care interventions
Hopewell, S., McDonald, S., Clarke, M. J., & Egger, M. (2007) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.mr000010.pub3 · Cited by 598 · see citing works
Criteria for the systematic review of health promotion and public health interventions
Jackson, N., & Waters, E. (2005) · Health Promotion International · doi:10.1093/heapro/dai022 · Cited by 572 · see citing works
Haynes, R. B., & Wilczynski, N. L. (2004) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.38068.557998.ee · Cited by 549 · see citing works
Haynes, R., McKibbon, K., Wilczynski, N., Walter, S. D., & Werre, S. R. (2005) · British medical journal · doi:10.1136/bmj.38446.498542.8f · Cited by 500 · see citing works
Papaioannou, D., Sutton, A., Carroll, C., Booth, A., & Wong, R. (2010) · Health Information & Libraries Journal · doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00863.x · Cited by 318 · see citing works
Finding qualitative research: an evaluation of search strategies
Shaw, R. L., Booth, A., Sutton, A. J., Miller, T., Smith, J. A., Young, B., Jones, D. R. H., & Dixon‐Woods, M. (2004) · BMC Medical Research Methodology · doi:10.1186/1471-2288-4-5 · Cited by 295 · see citing works
The Challenges of Searching for and Retrieving Qualitative Studies
Barroso, J., Gollop, C. J., Sandelowski, M., Meynell, J., Pearce, P. F., & Collins, L. J. (2003) · Western Journal of Nursing Research · doi:10.1177/0193945902250034 · Cited by 272 · see citing works
Identifying 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
Ogilvie, D., Hamilton, V., Egan, M., & Petticrew, M. P. (2005) · Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health · doi:10.1136/jech.2005.034181 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
How much searching is enough? Comprehensive versus optimal retrieval for technology assessments
Booth, A. (2010) · International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care · doi:10.1017/s0266462310000966 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Wade, C. A., Turner, H. M., Rothstein, H. R., & Lavenberg, J. G. (2006) · Evidence & Policy · doi:10.1332/174426406775249705 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Stansfield, C., Kavanagh, J., Rees, R. W., Gomersall, A., & Thomas, J. (2012) · BMC Medical Research Methodology · doi:10.1186/1471-2288-12-55 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Pearson, M., Moxham, T., & Ashton, K. E. (2011) · Evaluation & the Health Professions · doi:10.1177/0163278710388029 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
The number needed to retrieve: a practically useful measure of information retrieval?
Booth, A. (2006) · Health Information & Libraries Journal · doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2006.00663.x · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Systematic searches for the effectiveness of respite care
Golder, S., Mason, A., & Spilsbury, K. (2008) · Journal of the Medical Library Association JMLA · doi:10.3163/1536-5050.96.2.147 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- 2 Papaioannou, D., Rawdin, A., Gillett, M., Chilcott, J. & Paisley, S. (ScHARR University of Shef fi eld). Identifying the evidence for a Health Technology Assessment Methodological Review. An NIHR HTA programme funded project. Poster presented at HTAi Fifth annual meeting 2008 Montreal Canada In HTAi Fifth annual meeting 2008 E-book of abstracts Part 2. Health Technology Assessment International Meeting. 2008 Montreal: Canada Abstract No T1.6. http://www.htai.org/ fi leadmin/HTAi\_Files/Conferences/2008/ Files/Book-of-abstracts\_2.pdf
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Nussbaumer-Streit, B., Klerings, I., Wagner, G., Heise, T. L., Dobrescu, A. I., Armijo-Olivo, S., Stratil, J. M., Persad, E., Lhachimi, S. K., Van Noord, M. G., et al. (2018) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2018.05.022 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Aagaard, T. V., Lund, H., & Juhl, C. B. (2016) · BMC Medical Research Methodology · doi:10.1186/s12874-016-0264-6 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Cooper, C., Lovell, R., Husk, K., Booth, A., & Garside, R. (2017) · Research Synthesis Methods · doi:10.1002/jrsm.1286 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Using Embase as a supplement to PubMed in Cochrane reviews differed across fields
Frandsen, T. F., Eriksen, M. B., Hammer, D. M. G., Christensen, J. B., & Wallin, J. A. (2021) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2020.12.022 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Wagner, G., Nussbaumer-Streit, B., Greimel, J., Ciapponi, A., & Gartlehner, G. (2017) · BMC Medical Research Methodology · doi:10.1186/s12874-017-0406-5 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Frandsen, T. F., Gildberg, F. A., & Tingleff, E. B. (2019) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2019.06.013 · Cited by 45 · 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
Applying machine classifiers to update searches: Analysis from two case studies
Stansfield, C., Stokes, G., & Thomas, J. (2021) · Research Synthesis Methods · doi:10.1002/jrsm.1537 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Systematic reviews are rarely used to inform study design - a systematic review and meta-analysis
Nørgaard, B., Draborg, E., Andreasen, J., Juhl, C. B., Yost, J., Brunnhuber, K., Robinson, K. A., & Lund, H. (2022) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2022.01.007 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Affengruber, L., Wagner, G., Waffenschmidt, S., Lhachimi, S. K., Nußbaumer-Streit, B., Thaler, K. J., Griebler, U., Klerings, I., & Gartlehner, G. (2020) · Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1186/s13643-020-01413-7 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
A Tailored Approach: A model for literature searching in complex systematic reviews
Cooper, C., Booth, A., Husk, K., Lovell, R., Frost, J., Schauberger, U., Britten, N., & Garside, R. (2022) · Journal of Information Science · doi:10.1177/01655515221114452 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Ewald, H., Klerings, I., Wagner, G., Heise, T. L., Dobrescu, A. I., Armijo-Olivo, S. L., Stratil, J. M., Lhachimi, S. K., Mittermayr, T., Gartlehner, G., et al. (2020) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2020.08.002 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Nußbaumer-Streit, B., Klerings, I., Wagner, G., Titscher, V., & Gartlehner, G. (2016) · Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1186/s13643-016-0380-8 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Adapting to, integrating and self-managing HIV as a chronic illness: a scoping review protocol
Sematlane, N. P., Knight, L., Masquillier, C., & Wouters, E. (2021) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-047870 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Rapid review: A review of methods and recommendations based on current evidence
Guo, Q., Jiang, G., Zhao, Q., Long, Y., Feng, K., Gu, X., Xu, Y., Li, Z., Huang, J., & Du, L. (2024) · Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine · doi:10.1111/jebm.12594 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Motahari-Nezhad, H. (2023) · Aslib Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1108/ajim-08-2022-0364 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Engaging in research: challenges and opportunities for health library and information professionals
Murphy, J. (2015) · Health Information & Libraries Journal · doi:10.1111/hir.12107 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Peer Review at the Health Information and Libraries Journal
Grant, M. J. (2014) · Health Information & Libraries Journal · doi:10.1111/hir.12089 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Affengruber, L., Wagner, G., Waffenschmidt, S., Lhachimi, S. K., Nußbaumer-Streit, B., Thaler, K. J., Griebler, U., Klerings, I., & Gartlehner, G. (2020) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.12672432
Affengruber, L., Wagner, G., Waffenschmidt, S., Lhachimi, S. K., Nußbaumer-Streit, B., Thaler, K. J., Griebler, U., Klerings, I., & Gartlehner, G. (2020) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.12672429
- Authors
- Bayliss, S. E., Davenport, C. F., & Pennant, M. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Bayliss, Susan E.
- Venue
- Health Information & Libraries Journal
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-08-19
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 303-313
- ISSN
- 1471-1834 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-1842
- OpenAlex
- W1966816548
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 1.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Health Information & Libraries Journal (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Birmingham Research Portal (University of Birmingham) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Sciences Research and Education
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Information Retrieval and Search Behavior
- Keywords
- cardiovascular disease prevention, population-level interventions, public health interventions, information retrieval, database search strategies, MEDLINE, NICE guidelines, MeSH terms
- MeSH terms
- Cardiovascular Diseases, Humans, Retrospective Studies, Public Health Practice, MEDLINE, Information Storage and Retrieval
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
