ITEM 1.    Identify the article as a study of diagnostic accuracy (recommend MeSH heading 'sensitivity and specificity').

 

 

Example (an excerpt from a structured abstract)

Purpose: To determine the sensitivity and specificity of computed tomographic colonography for colorectal polyp and cancer detection by using colonoscopy as the reference standard. [1]

 

 

Electronic databases have become indispensable tools to identify studies. To facilitate retrieval of their
study, authors should explicitly identify it as a report of a study of diagnostic accuracy. We recommend the use of the term “diagnostic accuracy” in the title or abstract of a report that compares the results of one or more index tests with the results of a reference standard. In 1991 the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE database introduced a specific keyword (MeSH heading) for diagnostic studies: “Sensitivity and Specificity”. Using this keyword to search for studies of diagnostic accuracy remains problematic.[2-6]

            In a selected set of MEDLINE journals covering publications between 1992 through 1995, the use of the MeSH heading “Sensitivity and Specificity” identified only 51% of all studies of diagnostic accuracy and incorrectly identified many articles that were not reports of studies of diagnostic accuracy.[5] In the example, the authors used the more general term “performance characteristics of CT colonography” in the title. The purpose section of the structured abstract explicitly mentions sensitivity and specificity. The MEDLINE record for this paper contains the MeSH “sensitivity and specificity”.

 

 

References

1.

Yee J, Akerkar GA, Hung RK, Steinauer-Gebauer AM, Wall SD, McQuaid KR. Colorectal neoplasia: performance characteristics of CT colonography for detection in 300 patients. Radiology 2001;219:685-92.
2. Haynes RB, Wilczynski N, McKibbon KA, Walker CJ, Sinclair JC. Developing optimal search strategies for detecting clinically sound studies in MEDLINE. J Am Med Inform Assoc 1994;1:447-58.
3. Dickersin K, Scherer R, Lefebvre C. Identifying relevant studies for systematic reviews. BMJ 1994;309:1286-91.
4. McKibbon KA, Walker-Dilks CJ. Beyond ACP Journal Club: how to harness MEDLINE for diagnostic problems. ACP J Club 1994; 121 Suppl 2:A10-2.
5. Deville WL, Bezemer PD, Bouter LM. Publications on diagnostic test evaluation in family medicine journals: an optimal search strategy. J Clin Epidemiol 2000; 53:65-9.
6. Wilczynski NL, McKibbon KA, Haynes RB. Enhancing retrieval of best evidence for health care from bibliographic databases: calibration of the hand search of the literature. Medinfo 2001; 10:390-3.