Table 1.
Search terms and limits with results from initial search*
| Search | Queries | Result # |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Search "Joints"[Mesh] | 156488 |
| #2 | Search "Osteoarthritis"[Mesh] | 34719 |
| #3 | Search osteoarthritis | 43289 |
| #4 | Search osteoarthrosis | 261351 |
| #9 | Search coxarthrosis | 10408 |
| #10 | Search gonarthrosis | 776 |
| #11 | Search "degenerative joint disease" | 1471 |
| #12 | Search #2 or #3 or #4 or #9 or #10 or #11 | 262009 |
| Combining terms for osteoarthritis and its synonyms | ||
| #13 | Search generalized | 75464 |
| #14 | Search polyarticular | 1521 |
| #15 | Search global | 147310 |
| #16 | Search nodal | 26481 |
| #17 | Search “multiple joint” or “multi-joint” or “multi-site” | 2276 |
| #18 | Search (hand* AND knee*) OR (hand* AND hip*) OR (knee* AND hip*) | 17027 |
| #19 | Search #13 or #14 or #15 or #16 or #17 or #18 | 267668 |
| Combining polyarticular with its synonyms to get at the concept of multiple joints | ||
| #20 | Search #12 and #19 | 11385 |
| The overlap—articles about polyarticular OA. | ||
| #21 | Search #12 and #19 and #1 | 4186 |
| #22 | Search Gout[Mesh] | 8695 |
| #23 | Search "Arthritis, Rheumatoid"[Mesh] | 89074 |
| #24 | Search "Arthritis, Psoriatic"[Mesh] | 2676 |
| #25 | Search #22 or #23 or #24 | 98762 |
| #26 | Search #21 NOT #25 | 3260 |
| Removing references about inflammatory arthritis. | ||
| #27 | Search #26 Limits: Humans, English | 2391 |
| Limiting to Human populations and English language articles. | ||
| #28 | Search neuropathy OR neuropathies | 53087 |
| #29 | Search skeletal muscle* OR "Muscle, Skeletal"[Mesh] | 213567 |
| #30 | Search "Surgical Procedures, Operative"[Mesh] | 2008342 |
| #31 | Search #28 or #29 or #30 | 2235850 |
| #32 | Search #27 NOT #31 | 1715 |
| Removing unwanted subjects | ||
| #33 | Search #32 Limits: All Adult: 19+ years | 1210 |
| Limiting to adults | ||
| #34 | Search #33 Limits: Clinical Trial, Letter, Meta-Analysis, Randomized Controlled Trial, Review, Case Reports, Classical Article, Clinical Conference, Clinical Trial, Phase I, Clinical Trial, Phase II, Clinical Trial, Phase III, Clinical Trial, Phase IV, Comment, Comparative Study, Congresses, Consensus Development Conference, Consensus Development Conference, NIH, Controlled Clinical Trial, Evaluation Studies, Guideline, Historical Article, Journal Article, Lectures, Multicenter Study, Twin Study, Validation Studies | 1209 |
| #35 | Search #34 Limits: Core clinical journals | 307 |
| Limiting to Core Clinical Journals – these were kept. | ||
| #38 | Search Orthopaedic Journals (full listing available from authors) | 228478 |
| #39 | Search #34 and #38 | 321 |
| Limiting to the 115 Orthopedic journals. These were kept. | ||
| #40 | Search Rheumatology Journals (full listing available from authors) | 115904 |
| #41 | Search #34 and #40 | 516 |
| Limiting to the 68 Rheumatology journals. These were kept. | ||
| #42 | Search "Am J Epidemiol"[Journal] | 10887 |
| #43 | Search #34 and #42 | 2 |
| Limiting to Am J Epidemiol. These were kept. | ||
| #44 | Search #35 or #39 or #41 or #43 | 855 |
| Combining Core clinical, Orthopaedic journals, Rheumatology journals, and American Journal of Epidemiology and removing duplicates. |
*
Search was initially performed on March 23, 2011 (n=855 as shown in the table) and was updated on September 25, 2012 (identical search terms, additional n=93 articles identified)