The Cochrane Stroke Group

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The Cochrane Stroke Group
Helping reviewers to identify trials

• Brenda Thomas
• Alison McInnes
• Peter Sandercock

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Role of the Information Specialist

• Plan, implement and co-ordinate a comprehensive
  trials identification strategy
• Assess and code relevant trials
• Develop and maintain a specialised register of
  randomised trials and controlled clinical trials
• Support reviewers
• Contribute to the editorial process

Considerable time and resources are committed to
maximising trial identification
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A systematic approach to trial identification
and management

• Multiple overlapping search strategies
• electronic resources
• handsearching and translation
• personal communication
• Trials register relational database where the
  trial is the unit of data
• facilitates preparation and updating of reviews
• reliably tracks trial information
• identifies areas where reviews are needed
• monitors review quality ensures reviews are kept
  up-to-date
• Used to influence future trials searching
  activities

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Search Strategies

• 20 electronic bibliographic databases
• Handsearch and translation programme
• More than 500 relevant electronic journals
• Web-based international clinical trials and
  research registers (ongoing studies)
• Websites e.g. press releases, research centres
• Contact with trialists and drug companies
  (unpublished studies)

Supported by the considerable resources of The
University of Edinburgh and NHS Scotland e-library
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Bibliographic databases
GENERAL

• MEDLINE, EMBASE, BIOSIS, Derwent Drug File,
  SCISEARCH

SPECIALISED

• AMED, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Digital Dissertations,
  FROSTI, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts,
  MANTIS, Occupational Therapy Journal of Research
  Index, SPORTDiscus, Wilson Social Sciences
  Abstracts

Many thousands of references to be screened
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Handsearching and translation

• 26 volunteer handsearchers
• 48 specialist Journals (6 languages)
• 147 books and conference proceedings
• 47 volunteer translators from 19 countries
• 700 non-English trial reports (20 languages)
• 56 Chinese or Japanese

Contribution of volunteers has been crucial
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Growth of Trials Register
Approximately 1000 trial reports identified per
year
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The Stroke Group Trials Register Today
8137 trial reports 3598 individual stroke trials
Found in 900 different journal titles 121
conference proceedings 143 books and
dissertations 130 electronic sources
Included in the Cochrane Central Register of
Controlled Trials
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Example new review title
Stroke Group Reviews
More than 250 International Stroke Group
collaborators based in 22 countries have
contributed to the production of
77 Cochrane Systematic Reviews

• Acupuncture for stroke rehabilitation

Reviewers based in China
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How can the Stroke Group help identify trials?

• Regular searches of Stroke Group Trials Register
• Developing search strategies and running searches
  of bibliographic databases and trials registers
• Advice on other appropriate trial identification
  strategies e.g. specialist databases
• Handsearching specialist journals and conference
  proceedings
• Translation

Avoid duplication!
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Searches of trials registers

• Cochrane Stroke Group Trials Register
• Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials
• Cochrane Complementary Field Registry
• http//www.compmed.umm.edu/Cochrane/registry.html
• National Center for Complementary and Alternative
  Medicine
• The Centralised Information Service for
  Complementary Medicine (CISCOM)
• Chinese Stroke Trials Register
• Chinese Acupuncture Trials Register

REVIEWER
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Intervention-based searches of bibliographic
databases

• MEDLINE
• EMBASE
• CINAHL
• Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED)
• China Biological Medicine Database (CBM-disc)

Avoid overlap with Stroke Group searches
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Stroke Group general strategymodified for each
database
Highly sensitive Cochrane TRIALS strategy
STROKE specific strategy
?
Screened for stroke trials
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Review-specificintervention-based strategy
Highly sensitive Cochrane TRIALS strategy
STROKE specific strategy
?
?
?
Review specific INTERVENTION-based strategy
Screened for additional relevant trials
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Other help finding trials

• Sourcing paper copies of difficult to find
  trial reports
• Contacting authors for information on trials with
  limited information
• Arranging translation of non-English language
  trial reports

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The Information Specialist and the review process

• Advice on trial identification methods
• Guidance on writing search methods section of
  protocol and review
• Editorial comment as part of review process

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Updating reviews

• Searches of Stroke Group trials register on
  demand
• Update searches of bibliographic databases
• New search sources can be identified

Active support can help motivate reviewers
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Reviewers need varying degrees of help

• Access to databases
• Previous literature searching experience
• Availability of local librarians
• Problems accessing journals and conference
  proceedings
• English language limitations

Stroke Group
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Summary

• The Stroke Group provides considerable support
  for reviewers searching for trials
• The major resource is the Stroke Group Trials
  Register which is comprehensive and rapidly
  expanding
• The Information Specialist devises additional
  complementary strategies to maximise trial
  identification
• The quality of the search strategy section of
  reviews is monitored as part of the review process