Appraisal of: Golder S, Wright K, Rodgers M. The contribution of different information sources to identify adverse effects of a medical device: a case study using a systematic review of spinal fusion. Int J Technol Assess Health Care. 2014;30(14):1-7.
The included studies from a systematic review of the safety of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) for spinal fusion were used for analysis. For each study, it was investigated in whichc sources they were available and where they were identified. If a study was available on a database but not retrieved by the original search strategy, the bibliographic record was examined to determine why it was not retrieved. The sensitivity, precision, and numbers needed to read for searches in each of the databases was calculated, as well as sensitivity*precision. The minimum combination of sources required to identify all the included publications using the original search strategies used was recorded.
The minimum combination of sources to identify all the publications was Science Citation Index (SCI), Embase, CENTRAL and either MEDLINE or PubMed, in addition to reference checking, contacting authors and using automated current awareness service.
The highest precision was achieved in CENTRAL, followed by ToxFile and MEDLINE. The highest sensitivity*precision was achieved by MEDLINE, followed by CENTRAL and Science Citation Index.