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Table 2 Search permutations and performance (recall) in the Filter Development Set

From: Development of a heart failure filter for Medline: an objective approach using evidence-based clinical practice guidelines as an alternative to hand searching

Baseline search

Representation

No. records retrieved in Filter Development Set (n = 394)

Recall (%)

Heart failure.mp.

T1

365

92.6

 

T1 OR left ventricular ejection fraction.mp.

372

94.4

 

T1 OR cardiomyopathy.mp.

373

94.7

 

T1 OR Ventricular dysfunction, Left.sh.

373

94.7

Heart failure.mp. OR cardiomyopathy.mp.

T1 OR T2(a)*

373

94.7

 

T1 OR T2(a) OR left ventricular ejection fraction.mp.

378

95.9

 

T1 OR T2(a) OR Ventricular dysfunction, Left.sh.

380

96.4

Heart failure.mp. OR Ventricular dysfunction, Left.sh.

T1 OR T2(b)*

373

94.7

 

T1 OR T2(b) OR left ventricular ejection fraction.mp.

376

95.4

 

T1 OR T2(b) OR cardiomyopathy.mp.

380

96.4

Heart failure.mp. OR Ventricular dysfunction, Left.sh. OR cardiomyopathy.mp.

T1 OR T2(b) OR T2(a)

380

96.4

 

T1 OR T2(b) OR T2(a) OR left ventricular ejection fraction.mp.

382

96.9

  1. *The two terms cardiomyopathy.mp. and Ventricular dysfunction, Left both qualified for term 2 (T2), having retrieved the same number of references in combination with T1. They have been labelled T2(a) and T2(b) in order to assess their relative performance as part of the baseline search.
  2. Note: The OvidSP Medline suffix '.mp.' forces a search on the title, abstract, subject headings, and chemical registry fields while the '.sh.' suffix forces a search on the subject headings field alone.