Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 9, 2025

Comparing Bibliometric Analysis Using PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science Databases
Published on: October 24, 2019
Development and validation of search filters to retrieve medication discontinuation articles in Medline and Embase
Thomas Morel1,2, Jérôme Nguyen-Soenen1,2, Wade Thompson3
1Département de Médecine Générale, Nantes Université, Nantes, France.
Background:
Medication discontinuation studies explore the outcomes of stopping a medication compared to continuing it. Comprehensively identifying medication discontinuation articles in bibliographic databases remains challenging due to variability in terminology.
Objectives:
To develop and validate search filters to retrieve medication discontinuation articles in Medline and Embase.
Methods:
We identified medication discontinuation articles in a convenience sample of systematic reviews. We used primary articles to create two reference sets for Medline and Embase, respectively. The reference sets were equally divided by randomization in development sets and validation sets. Terms relevant for discontinuation were identified by term frequency analysis in development sets and combined to develop two search filters that maximized relative recalls. The filters were validated against validation sets. Relative recalls were calculated with their 95% confidences intervals (95% CI).
Results:
We included 316 articles for Medline and 407 articles for Embase, from 15 systematic reviews. The Medline optimized search filter combined 7 terms. The Embase optimized search filter combined 8 terms. The relative recalls were respectively 92% (95% CI: 87-96) and 91% (95% CI: 86-94).
Conclusions:
We developed two search filters for retrieving medication discontinuation articles in Medline and Embase. Further research is needed to estimate precision and specificity of the filters.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Drug Elimination: The Concept of Clearance
Drug clearance is not limited to renal excretion but encompasses all organs involved in drug elimination,...
Drug Elimination by Renal Route: Glomerular Filtration
Drug Elimination: Non-Renal Routes
Pharmacovigilance
This process, termed pharmacovigilance, aims to detect, evaluate, and minimize harmful effects related to medication use. The data collection for pharmacovigilance depends on spontaneous reporting systems, where healthcare professionals or patients voluntarily report suspected ADRs.
In some cases, there...
Preclinical Development: Overview
Drug Elimination by Renal Route: Tubular Reabsorption

