Optimizing literature search in systematic reviews - are MEDLINE, EMBASE and CENTRAL enough for identifying effect studies within the area of musculoskeletal disorders?

Thomas Vedste AagaardHans LundCarsten Juhl

Published in: BMC medical research methodology (2016)

Searching MEDLINE, EMBASE and CENTRAL was not sufficient for identifying all effect studies on musculoskeletal disorders, but additional ten databases did only increase the median recall by 2%. It is possible that searching databases is not sufficient to identify all relevant references, and that reviewers must rely upon additional sources in their literature search. However further research is needed.

Keyphrases

systematic review
case control
big data
drinking water
machine learning
artificial intelligence
meta analyses