Optimizing Search Strategies for Cost and Economic Studies in EMBASE
Author Information
Author(s): McKinlay R James, Wilczynski Nancy L, Haynes R Brian
Primary Institution: McMaster University
Hypothesis
The study aimed to develop search strategies that optimize the retrieval of health costs and economics studies from EMBASE.
Conclusion
Selected terms have excellent performance in the retrieval of studies of health costs and economics from EMBASE.
Supporting Evidence
- The study tested 40,116 search strategies for economic studies and 16,728 for cost studies.
- The best sensitivity for cost studies was achieved with a single term yielding 98.9% sensitivity.
- Combination search strategies achieved 100% sensitivity for both cost and economic studies.
Takeaway
The researchers found ways to improve how we search for studies about health costs and economics, making it easier for doctors and researchers to find important information.
Methodology
An analytic survey comparing hand searches of journals with retrievals from EMBASE for candidate search terms and combinations.
Limitations
The precision of searches was suboptimal due to the low concentration of cost and economics articles in the EMBASE database.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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