Collating the knowledge base for core outcome set development: developing and appraising the search strategy for a...

Area of Science:

• Health Research Methodology
• Information Science

Background:

• The COMET Initiative aims to create a public resource for core outcome set (COS) development.
• Maintaining a comprehensive and up-to-date database is crucial for user value.
• This necessitates an effective, multi-faceted search strategy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the challenges in designing and implementing a search strategy for COS development studies.
• To outline the development process for a COS database search strategy.
• To evaluate the performance of different search strategies and database combinations.

Main Methods:

• Investigated search strategy performance characteristics: sensitivity, precision, and number needed to read.
• Compared the contribution of various databases in identifying relevant studies.
• Assessed the optimal combination of methods for comprehensive study retrieval.

Main Results:

• Recall ranged from 4% to 87%; precision ranged from 0.77% to 1.13%.
• MEDLINE demonstrated the highest recall (87%) and precision.
• Combining MEDLINE with other databases and hand searching was necessary to locate all studies.

Conclusions:

• MEDLINE alone retrieved 87% of studies; 97% were indexed in MEDLINE.
• The Cochrane Methodology Register contributed no unique records.
• Future COMET searches require balancing screening effort with maximizing study identification.