Table 2 Properties of search strategies evaluated against the gold standard set of CRTs
Search Strategy | Total articles retrieved | CRTs retrieved (Sensitivity %) (N = 162) | Non-CRTs retrieved (1-Specificity %) (N = 25545) | Precision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Existing strategy for randomized controlled trials: | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   1. randomized controlled trial.pt. |  |  |  |  |
   2. animals/ |  |  |  |  |
   3. humans/ |  |  |  |  |
   4. 2 NOT (2 AND 3) |  |  |  |  |
   5. 1 NOT 4 | 1697 | 152 (93.8%) | 1545 (6.0%) | 9.0% |
Cluster design-related terms: | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   6. cluster$ adj2 randomi$.tw. | 87 | 59 (36.4%) | 28 (0.11%) | 67.8% |
   7. ((communit$ adj2 intervention$) OR (communit$ adj2 randomi$)).tw. | 96 | 16 (9.9%) | 80 (0.31%) | 16.7% |
   8. group$ randomi$.tw. | 34 | 9 (5.6%) | 25 (0.10%) | 26.5% |
   9. 6 OR 7 OR 8 | 208 | 78 (48.1%) | 130 (0.51%) | 37.5% |
   10. intervention?.tw. | 2636 | 139 (85.8%) | 2497 (9.8%) | 5.3% |
   11. cluster analysis/ | 150 | 30 (18.5%) | 120 (0.47%) | 20.0% |
   12. health promotion/ | 796 | 38 (23.5%) | 758 (3.0%) | 4.8% |
   13. program evaluation/ | 560 | 36 (22.2%) | 524 (2.1%) | 6.4% |
   14. health education/ | 428 | 32 (19.8%) | 396 (1.6%) | 7.5% |
   15. 10 OR 11 OR 12 OR 13 OR 14 | 3658 | 149 (92.0%) | 3509 (13.7%) | 4.1% |
   16. 9 OR 15 | 3680 | 155 (95.7%) | 3525 (13.8%) | 4.2% |
Highest sensitivity: | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   17. 16 OR 5 | 4583 | 161 (99.4%) | 4422 (17.3%) | 3.5% |
Highest precision: | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   18. 16 AND 5 | 794 | 146 (90.1%) | 648 (2.5%) | 18.4% |