Appraisal of: "Huang Y, Yang Z, Wang J, Zhuo L, Li Z, Zhan S. (2016). Performance of search strategies to retrieve systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy from the Cochrane Library. J Evid Based Med. 9: 77-83. Erratum in: J Evid Based Med 2017;10"
The objective of this study was to assess the performance of nine diagnostic accuracy filters in retrieving systematic reviews (SRs) of diagnostic accuracy in Cochrane Library databases, specifically Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) and the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE).
Study authors adapted SIGN’s diagnostic studies filter (http://www.sign.ac.uk/search-filters.html), adding concepts of “accuracy measures” and “diagnosis” to create nine strategies. The reference set used to test filter performance in both CDSR and DARE was created using a strategy that combined all the terms used in the filters. Study authors also identified additional diagnostic accuracy studies to include by reviewing each record in CDSR under the topic of diagnosis.
Overall, filters containing the concept of “accuracy measures” achieved similar sensitivities as those containing “diagnosis” but demonstrated higher precision. Filters containing both concepts demonstrated the highest sensitivity.