Table 4 Sensitivity and precision of the search strategies tested
| Â | Retrieved documents [relevant references] | Sensitivity (%) | Precision (%) | NNR* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Development set (78 relevant references) | ||||
Sensitive strategy | 28,893 [77] | 98.7 | 0.2 | 483 |
Precise strategy | 461 [40] | 51.3 | 6.1 | 16 |
Balanced strategy | 4,351 [62] | 79.5 | 1.0 | 96 |
PubMed HSR Query sensitive | 16,636 [68] | 87.2 | 0.3 | 328 |
PubMed HSR Query precise | 310 [20] | 25.6 | 5.0 | 20 |
Precision set (6 relevant references out of a total of 2,195) | ||||
Sensitive strategy | 1,775 [6] | 100 | 0.3 | 297 |
Precise strategy | 34 [5] | 83.3 | 14.7 | 7 |
Balanced strategy | 278 [5] | 83.3 | 1.8 | 56 |
PubMed HSR Query sensitive | 1,017 [5] | 83.3 | 0.5 | 203 |
PubMed HSR Query precise | 20 [3] | 50.0 | 15.0 | 7 |
Journal screening set (17 relevant references out of a total of 1,274) | ||||
Sensitive strategy | 210 [17] | 100 | 8.1 | 12 |
Precise strategy | 25 [8] | 47.1 | 32.0 | 3 |
Balanced strategy | 65 [13] | 76.5 | 20.0 | 5 |
PubMed HSR Query sensitive | 127 [15] | 88.2 | 11.9 | 8 |
PubMed HSR Query precise | 7 [3] | 17.6 | 30.0 | 3 |