Electronic searches
Unless otherwise stated, search terms were free text terms; exp = exploded MeSH: Medical Subject Heading (Medline medical index term); the dollar sign ($) stands for any character(s); the question mark (?) = substitute for one or no characters; ab = abstract; ti = titel; ot = original titel; pt = publication type; sh = MeSH: Medical subject heading (MEDLINE medical index term); adj = adjacency.
I. Impaired glucose tolerance / impaired fasting blood glucose:
1.exp Glucose Intolerance/
2.exp Diabetes Mellitus/pc [Prevention & Control]
3.exp Glucose Tolerance Test/
4.exp Insulin Resistance/
5.exp Metabolic Syndrome X/
6.IGT.ab,ti,ot.
7.glucose intoleranc$.ab,ti,ot.
8.(glucose adj tolerance test$).ab,ti,ot.
9.OGTT.ab,ti,ot.
10.insulin$ resistanc$.ab,ti,ot.
11.(impaired fasting and (blood or glucos$ or gly?emia$)).ab,ti,ot.
12.(impaired glucose and (toleranc$ or stat$ or respons$ or control$)).ab,ti,ot.
13.(impaired glucose and (regul$ or metab$ or homeost$)).ab,ti,ot.
14.(reduced glucose and (metabol$ or toleranc$)).ab,ti,ot.
15.glucose intolerant$.ab,ti,ot.
16.pr?ediabet$.ab,ti,ot.
17.pr?e diabet$.ab,ti,ot.
18.metabolic syndr$.ab,ti,ot.
19.syndrom$ X.ab,ti,ot.
20.((borderline or mild or chemical) adj diabet$).ab,ti,ot.
21.((impaired insulin$ or reduced insulin$) adj secret$).ab,ti,ot.
22.or/1-21
II. Chinese herbal medicines:
23.exp Medicine, Oriental Traditional/
24.exp Drugs, Chinese Herbal/
25.exp Plants, Medicinal/
26.exp Plant Extracts/
27.exp Phytotherapy/
28.exp Medicine, Ayurvedic/
29.integrative medicin$.ab,ti,ot.
30.(medicin$ adj5 (chines$ or oriental$ or tibetan$)).ab,ti,ot.
31.(herbal medicin$ or medicin$ herbal$).ab,ti,ot.
32.(plant$ medicin$ or medicin$ plant$).ab,ti,ot.
33.plant$ extract$.ab,ti,ot.
34.phytotherap$.ab,ti,ot.
35.medicine ayurvedic.ab,ti,ot.
36.(chinese adj (herb$ or drug$ or formul$ or plant$ or presri$ or remed$ or materia medica)).ab,ti,ot.
37.((herb$ or drug$ or formul$ or plant$ or presri$ or remed$ or materia medica) adj chinese).ab,ti,ot.
38.((chines$ or oriental$ or tibetan$) adj medicine$).ab,ti,ot.
39.or/23-38
III. Impaired glucose tolerance/Impaired fasting blood glucose and Chinese herbal medicine:
40.22 and 39
IV. RCT / CCT (sensitive search):
Part 1:
41.randomized controlled trial.pt.
42.controlled clinical trial.pt.
43.randomized controlled trials.sh.
44.random allocation.sh.
45.double-blind method.sh.
46.single-blind method.sh.
47.or/41-46
Part 2:
48.clinical trial.pt.
49.exp clinical trials/
50.(clinic$ adj25 trial$).ab,ti,ot.
51.((singl$ or doubl$ or trebl$ or tripl$) adj (mask$ or blind$)).ab,ti,ot.
52.placebos.sh.
53.placebo$.ab,ti,ot.
54.random$.ab,ti,ot.
55.research design.sh.
56.(latin adj square).ab,ti,ot.
57.or/48-56
Part 3:
58.comparative study.pt.
59.exp evaluation studies/
60.follow-up studies.sh.
61.prospective studies.sh.
62.(control$ or prospectiv$ or volunteer$).ab,ti,ot.
63.cross-over studies.sh.
64.or/58-63
65.47 or 57 or 64
V. Meta-analyses, systematic reviews, health technology assessments:
66.exp meta-analysis/
67.exp Review Literature/
68.meta-analysis.pt.
69.review.pt.
70.or/66-69
71.letter.pt.
72.comment.pt.
73.editorial.pt.
74.historical-article.pt.
75.or/71-74
76.70 not 75
77.((systematic$ or quantitativ$ or methodologic$) adj (review$ or overview$)).ab,ti,ot.
78meta?anal$.ab,ti,ot.
79.(integrativ$ research review$ or research integration$).ab,ti,ot.
80.quantitativ$ synthes$.ab,ti,ot.
81.(pooling$ or pooled analys$ or mantel$ haenszel$).ab,ti,ot.
82.(peto$ or der?simonian$ or fixed effect$ or random effect$).ab,ti,ot.
83.or/77-82
84.76 or 83
VI. Impaired glucose tolerance / impaired fasting blood glucose AND Chinese herbal medicine AND RCTs / CCTs:
85.40 and 65
VII. Impaired glucose tolerance / impaired fasting blood glucose AND Chinese herbal medicine AND systematic reviews:
86.40 and 85
VIII. VI OR VII:
87.85 or 86
88.limit 87 to animal
89.limit 87 to human
90.88 not 89
91.87 not 90

References:

Robinson KA, Dickersin K. Development of a highly sensitive search strategy for the retrieval of reports of controlled trials using PubMed. International Journal of Epidemiology 2002;31(1):150-3.

Van de Laar FA, Lucassen PLBJ, Akkermans RP, Van de Lisdonk EH, De Grauw WJC. Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors for people with impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting blood glucose. In: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 4, 2004.