A patient asks a clinician, "Does vitamin C prevent the common cold? Are there effective therapies to treat a cold once you have one?" Although these questions are common, they are not always easy to answer. Medical knowledge is advancing rapidly, and the literature that reports new findings is expanding by almost half a million articles every year.
In the past, a clinician might seek answers to these questions within a textbook. But textbooks are updated infrequently, only every 3-5 years. And a new, definitive study might be published in today's medical journals, but not appear in the most recent textbooks.
The clinician might call an infectious disease specialist. But specialists are very busy, and may not have time to answer such questions.
The clinician might perform a traditional search in a medical database, such as MEDLINE. Unfortunately, a search using the MeSH term "common cold" yields over 1,400 articles written in the last 30 years. Finding a relevant article might take as long as 30 minutes or more.
But today, with Ovid's Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews (EBMR), answering clinical questions is a whole lot easier. Using Ovid's MEDLINE, a clinician can enter the term "common cold," select the EBM Reviews limit, and in seconds, a small number of high-quality articles appear that discuss prevention and treatment of the common cold.
Some of the articles retrieved have met rigorous inclusion criteria by the international Cochrane Collaboration, and then have been used as the basis for a systematic topic review. Clicking on the Topic Review link retrieves the Cochrane Review "Vitamin C for the Common Cold" which analyzes and synthesizes over 30 of the best clinical trials on the subject.
Other articles in the result set have been the subject of an evidence-based article review by the editorial staff of ACP Journal Club (a joint project of the American College of Physicians and BMJ Publishing Group) or by the National Health Services (NHS) Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at the University of York, England. Clicking on the Article Review link retrieves the enhanced abstract of the article together with commentary about the article's relevance to clinical practice.
So, the result from using EBMR of Ovid: the most comprehensive answer in less than a minute. EBMR helps clinicians to find the best answer to clinical questions in the least amount of time.
COCH is produced by the Cochrane Collaboration - an international network of individuals and institutions committed to preparing, maintaining, and disseminating systematic reviews of the effects of health care. In pursuing its aims, the Cochrane Collaboration is guided by six principles: collaboration, building on people's existing enthusiasm and interests, minimizing duplication of effort, avoidance of bias, keeping up to date, and ensuring access.
Each issue of COCH contains new and updated reviews and protocols. COCH is unlike other "journal" or "serial" publications in that once a review is published it will appear in every issue thereafter. Because of this, each Review or Protocol includes a section about how to cite that document if needed.
Although great care has been taken to try to ensure that the information contained in COCH is accurate, some inaccuracies are inevitable. Neither the authors and editors of Cochrane Reviews, nor those responsible for compiling and disseminating COCH are responsible for any adverse consequences of these inaccuracies.
Because COCH is updated and amended regularly as new evidence becomes available and errors are identified, comments and criticisms intended to improve the validity and usefulness of Cochrane Reviews are very welcome. If you have suggestions about ways in which particular Cochrane Reviews might be improved, please use the Comments and Criticisms system to register your comments.
Every word of the document text in COCH is searchable, including references, captions, and footnotes. Searching the COCH Fields describes all the searchable fields and provides at least one search example for each. Within the Full Text display, hypertext features allow you to display an outline of the document and move immediately to a selected section, and to display complete references cited within the text of a document.
The Browse Topics feature allows you to explore the articles in the database by topic, and access information about the individual Collaborative Review Groups.
Full text links in the references allow you to explore the evidence in the primary source. Full text references link you to other full text documents within the database, as well as to bibliographic databases such as MEDLINE. Bi-directional linking allows you to link from MEDLINE to documents in the same collection or to journals available in Ovid Full Text.
COCH contains the complete contents of the database dating back from 1991.
Under the "Group Information" header, you will find:
The Browse Topics button is available on the main search screen.
Links from Cochrane to Ovid Full Text—You can move from a source article reference in a Cochrane topic review to the corresponding Ovid Full Text document, facilitating seamless exploration of the evidence in the primary source.
Limit an Ovid MEDLINE search to EBM Reviews—In addition to these high quality links between MEDLINE and EBMR databases, it is worth mentioning the EBMR-specific limits within Ovid's MEDLINE. In effect, these limits enable you to filter your MEDLINE results to include only those articles that have met the strict, quality criteria of ACP Journal Club, DARE, or the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. So, for example, you could limit a MEDLINE search to "Topic Reviews <Cochrane>," restricting retrieval to those MEDLINE records that have an associated Cochrane review. You can also limit your MEDLINE search to "All EBMR Article Reviews" to restrict retrieval to only those MEDLINE records that have an associated ACP or DARE review. Or, obtain only MEDLINE records that have an associated Cochrane, ACP, or DARE review by limiting your MEDLINE search to "Evidence Based Medicine Reviews."
If you have suggestions to improve a Cochrane Review, or discover an inaccuracy in a review, you can select the Comments & Criticisms button, which is located at the top of every topic review. Your comments will be emailed directly to the Cochrane Collaboration.
For the complete Cochrane Collaboration Handbook, see http://cochrane.co.uk/
The format of a Cochrane Review has several objectives. It helps readers to find the results of research quickly and to assess the validity, applicability and implications of those results. It guides reviewers to report their work explicitly and concisely, and minimizes the effort required to do this. The format is also suited to electronic publication and updating, and it generates reports that are informative and readable when viewed on a computer monitor or printed.
Mike Clarke, Murray Enkin, Chris Silagy, and Mark Starr developed the format of a Cochrane Review, with input from many others. The format is flexible enough to fit different types of reviews, including those making a single comparison, those making multiple comparisons and those prepared by collaborative trialists' groups using individual patient data. Modifications of the format of Cochrane Reviews may be desired for a variety of reasons. However, because of the huge effort it can take to change the structure of reviews in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, the format must be well defined and fixed. Some minor changes have been made from the format described in the first (1994) edition of the Handbook. These changes have been made based on the experience of Collaborative Review Groups, feedback from users of Cochrane Reviews and suggestions brought forward through the Review Manager (RevMan) Advisory Group, which has developed specifications for the software that is used to prepare Cochrane Reviews. The RevMan software is designed to help reviewers in constructing reviews in the appropriate format and to prepare files required to transfer reviews electronically to The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (COCH).
Each review consists of:
Standard headings and tables guide reviewers preparing a report and make it easier for readers to identify information that is of particular interest to them. The headings are listed below. The content that should follow each heading is described in the appendix attached to this section (Guide to the format of a Cochrane Review).
(1) Selected extractions from: Mulrow CD, Oxman AD (eds). Cochrane Collaboration Handbook [updated September 1997]. In: The Cochrane Library [database on disk and CDROM]. The Cochrane Collaboration. Oxford: Update Software; 1997, Issue 4. http://cochrane.co.uk/
Cover sheet:
Title
Short title
Reviewer(s)
Contact address
Abstract
Text
Tables and figures:
References:
If Cochrane Reviews are to be useful to those who want to take more informed decisions in health care and research, then they must be trustworthy, and transparently so. As made clear throughout the Handbook, the Collaboration uses explicit methods to produce reviews, and this feature alone will make them more useful to users than the vast majority of reviews that are currently available. Textbooks and review articles with 'Materials and Methods' sections remain rare.
Above a certain guaranteed minimum standard, the reviews contributed to The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (COCH) will vary in the level of methodological quality that it has been possible for the reviewers to achieve. The 'gold standard' will continue to be represented by systematic reviews, conducted under the aegis of collaborative trialists' groups, that are based on individual patient data for all patients entered into all of the trials meeting the entry criteria for the review. Such reviews require not only substantial resources (including time), they also depend on the success of negotiations among the trialists. These factors should not be underestimated. Furthermore, because 'the best can be the enemy of the good', it will be important to do empirical research to learn more than is currently known about which methodological standards are essential, and which desirable, in attempts to avoid bias.
Mechanisms for maintaining and raising the standards of Cochrane Reviews include:
The following limits are available on the Main Search Screen:
Sentence Syntax Limits:
Review Articles: limit 1 to review articles Protocols: limit 1 to protocols New Reviews: limit 1 to new reviews Recently Updated Reviews: limit 1 to recently updated reviews
The following alphabetical list provides the two letter label, the relevant alias, and at least one example for all searchable COCH fields.
===== ============
Label Name/Example
===== ============
AB Abstract [Word Indexed]
nsaids.ab.
substance abuse.ab.
The Abstract (AB) field summarizes the content of the document and
generally describes the background, methods, results, and conclusions.
Only documents which appeared in print with an abstract will include an
abstract in this database.
Stopwords such as "of" or "the" display in documents but are not
searchable and do not appear in the Abstract index.
AF All Searchable Fields
fatty acid.af.
All Fields (AF) is an alias for all of the fields which occur in
the source documents, including value-added fields such as Subject
Headings.
AN Accession Number [Phrase Indexed]
00099262-199805060-00077.an.
The Accession Number (AN) field contains a 22-digit number which
uniquely identifies each document in the database.
While searching this field, include all leading zeros and internal
hyphens.
The Accession Number is not related to the 8-digit MEDLINE Unique
Identifier.
AU Author [Phrase Indexed]
alderson p.au.
haynes$.au.
The Author (AU) field includes the names of all authors of a review
or protocol in the order in which they appear in the document.
Author names appear in the format of last name followed by first and
middle names, or last name followed by up to two initials.
CA Cited Author [Phrase Indexed]
avorn j.ca.
The Cited Author (CA) field includes the names of authors cited in
references. Author names are entered into the index in the format of
last name followed by first and middle names, or last name followed by
initials.
CT Caption Text [Word Indexed]
mitochondria.ct.
The Caption Text (CT) field includes the descriptive text for tables,
figures, and other graphics as they appear in the journal in which
the document was published.
DP Date of Publication [Word Indexed]
1998.dp.
The Date of Publication (DP) field contains the month, year, and
possibly day that the journal was published. This field usually
displays as part of the Source (SO) field.
DR Date of Most Recent Amendment [Word Indexed]
1996.dr.
The Date of Most Recent Amendment (DR) field contains the month, year,
and possibly day that the review or protocol was last updated.
The format for searching this field is MM-DD-YYYY. Note MM and DD which
are less then 10 must be padded with 0's, for example, 8-29-1997 should
be searched as 08-29-1997.
While searching this field, include all internal hyphens and zeros.
DS Date of Most Recent Substantive Amendment [Word Indexed]
1998.ds.
The Date of Most Recent Substantive Amendment (DS) field contains the
month, year, and possibly day that the review or protocol was revised
in a substantial way.
DT Document Type [Phrase Indexed]
review.dt.
The Document Type (DT) field contains either "Review" or "Protocol".
Documents of the type "Review" are complete systematic reviews
associated with a Group within the Cochrane Collaboration. Documents of
type "Protocol" are specification for systematic reviews that are either
"in process" or proposals for systematic reviews which will be done by
the particular group within the Cochrane Collaboration.
EN External Accession Number [Phrase Indexed]
CD000980.en.
The External Accession Number field (EN) contains a six-digit number
that uniquely identifies the record in the Cochrane Library database. Each
number is preceded by the letters: CD. The External Accession Number is not
related to the Ovid accession number or to the Medline Unique Identifier.
GN Group Name [Phrase Indexed]
cochrane skin group.gn.
The Group Name (GN) field contains the full names of the groups within
the Cochrane Collaboration. Searching in this field will retrieve all
the reviews or protocols associated with a group or groups.
GW Group Name (Word) [Word Indexed]
anxiety.gw.
back.gw.
The Group Name (Word) (GW) index includes the words from every Cochrane
group in the database. Searching in this field will retrieve all the
reviews or protocols associated with a group or groups.
IC Implications for Practice [Word Indexed]
seizures.ic.
bed rest.ic.
The Implications for Practice (IC) field contains the portion of the
review which discusses the main conclusions of the review and their
implications for clinical practice.
IP Issue/Part [Word Indexed]
"2".ip.
The Issue/Part (IP) field includes the issue and supplement number in
which the document was published. This field displays as part of the
Source field (SO).
IR Implications for Research [Word Indexed]
intrapartum oligohydramnios.ir.
The Implications for Research (IR) field contains the portion of the
review which discusses how the results of the review should affect
research in the field.
JN Journal Name [Phrase Indexed]
cochrane database of systematic reviews.jn.
The Journal Name (JN) field contains the full name of the journal in
which the article was published.
Stopwords such as "of" are included in the JN index, but when "the" is
the first word of a journal, it has been stripped.
JW Journal Words [Word Indexed]
database.jw.
The Journal Word (JW) field contains individual words from every
journal name.
KW Keywords [Word Indexed]
metabolism.kw.
leukocytes.kw.
The Keywords (KW) field contains MeSH headings that have been assigned
by members of the Cochrane Collaboration. These headings are used to
describe the content of reviews. Protocols do not have keywords assigned
to them.
This field is word indexed. Though the headings look like MeSH terms,
they should not be searched as such. For example, if the keywords
display as myocardial infarction/ai it should be searched as myocardial
infarction ai.kw.
LG Language [Phrase Indexed]
english.lg.
The Language (LG) field contains the language or languages in which the
main body of the document is written.
OH Outline Headings
conflict of interest.oh.
The Outline Headings (OH) field searches the author-defined section
names of full text documents. The section names can be viewed
conveniently by clicking the Outline button on the full text display
window.
Use this field to locate documents containing discussions of significant
length regarding a desired topic. For a broader search, you can expand
your search to include the Title (TI), Abstract (AB), Caption Text (CT),
and Full Text (TX) fields as well.
OT Short Title [Word Indexed]
arthritis.ot.
The Short Title (OT) field contains a shortened form of the title, as
determined by the Cochrane Collaboration.
PG Pages [Phrase Indexed]
"9".pg.
"103".pg.
The Pages (PG) field contains the starting page number in the printed
journal in which the document was published. The field displays as part
of the Source field (SO).
Often, a search using the publication year and the beginning page
number is enough to locate a particular citation.
PT Publication Type [Phrase Indexed]
review.pt.
The Publication Type (PT) field describes a document's overall form and
substance in broad categories. These publication types are assigned by
Ovid Technologies in order to unify the differing document types used
by various journal publisher.
Enter the first few letters of the desired publication type, or root on
the letter "a" to view and select from the complete list of publication
types.
RF References [Word Indexed]
obstet gynecol.rf.
barnett go.rf.
The Reference (RF) field includes complete bibliographic citations for
the publications cited by authors in full text documents. These
references can be viewed along with the citation or with full text.
Enter the desired reference information, consisting of words typically
found in reference. Consider searching on words in document title,
journal name or abbreviation, author name, page number, or year.
SO Source
cochrane database of systematic reviews.so.
1996.so.
The Source (SO) field includes the basic information needed to locate
a source document, including the journal name, volume, issue/part,
pagination, and year of publication.
TI Title [Word Indexed]
protein restriction.ti.
The Title (TI) field contains the English language version of the
title as it appears in the journal.
Stopwords such as "of" or "the" display in documents but do not
appear in the title index. However, the word "a", which is a stopword
in other fields, can be searched in the title field.
TX Full Text [Word Indexed]
pentoxifylline.tx.
The Full Text (TX) field contains the complete document text. This
field allows you to retrieve all documents with even the most passing
mention of your search term.
Since this field contains such a large quantity of diverse information,
most searches for a specific subject retrieve more relevant
results if conducted in the Title (TI) or Abstract (AB) fields.
Stopwords, which include commonly occurring words such as "of" and
"the" display in the documents but do not appear in the Full Text
index.
UF Update Flag [Phrase Indexed]
updated.uf.
The Update Flag (UF) field contains "New" if the review or protocol has
been newly added since the last database update or "Updated" if the
review or protocol has changed in a significant way. If the review or
protocol has not changed since the last update, there will be nothing
in this field. Search new.uf. to see all the reviews and/or protocols
which have been added since the last update of the database. This field
will be output as part of the DR (Date of Most Recent Amendment) field.
UP Update Code [Phrase Indexed]
19971128.up.
The Update Code (UP) field contains a 8-digit number representing
the year, month and day in (YYYYMMDD format) in which documents were
published in this database.
Enter the desired date in the format "YYYYMMDD" where "YYYY"
corresponds to the 4-digit year, "MM" to the 2-digit month and "DD" to
the day. Use truncation "199711$.up." or "1997$.up." to retrieve all
the records added in a particular month or year.
VO Volume [Phrase Indexed]
"1".vo.
The Volume (VO) field contains the volume of the printed journal in
which the document was published. This field displays as part of the
Source (SO) field.
YR Year of Publication [Word Indexed]
1997.yr.
The Year of Publication (YR) field contains the year in which the
printed journal containing the document was published. This field
displays as part of the Source (SO) field.
Command Syntax: ..c/coch Sentence Syntax: use coch
The following general usage statement applies to all journals:
The materials contained herein are proprietary to the publishers and/or individual copyright holders and may only be used by authorized users of the subscribing institutions for internal or personal research. Authorized users may (i) print data obtained from searches and make limited copies of such printed search results, (ii) download data obtained from searches and (iii) retransmit search results electronically or otherwise to a limited number of authorized users at the same institution. Authorized users are precluded from: (i) copying, duplication, redistribution, retransmission, publication, transfer or commercial or other exploitation of the databases or the contents thereof, except as permitted herein or pursuant to user guidelines of the individual copyright holders, (ii) preparation of derivative works or incorporation of the databases or contents thereof in any other work or system; (iii) downloading of the contents in their entirety or lengthy sequence. Authorized users are referred to the individual copyright holder and/or to the copyright holder's usage guidelines within this database for additional restrictions which may be imposed by the copyright holder.
Revised 24 June 1998