Identification and analysis of search strategies and filters carried out in systematic reviews indexed in Lilacs. Overview

Article type
Authors
Puga M1, Pereira R1, Figueiró M2, Melnik T1, Carvalho A1, Riera R1
1Brazilian Cochrane Centre, BR
2Institute of Education and Research Hcor-BR
Abstract
Background: The search methodology group from Brazilian Cochrane Centre has worked with the resources and tools available in the new LILACS (Latin-American and Caribbean Health Sciences Database) website (IAX format). This format displays the search results organized according to thestudy design and there are 1,218 systematic reviews (SR)- including Cochrane and non-Cochrane- currently available.

Objectives: To identify and assess the search strategies and filters carried out in all systematic reviews indexed in the new Lilacs' Database website.

Methods: Through an independently way three researchers are assessing the methods section from each one SR aiming to identify: a) the search strategies and filters used for clinical trials,b) the grade of sensitivity and specificity of these filters, and c) the database and search terms(MeSH, DeCS or synonymous) used by the SR authors.

Results: The results will be available in June 2011, but as potential findings, the researchers speculate that most of the reviews do not use LILACS database. Also, it is expected that synonymous are used instead of MeSH terms in non-Cochrane SR.

Conclusions: The conclusions will be available in June 2011.