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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Sep 21.
Published in final edited form as: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2010 Apr 14;(4):CD005533. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD005533.pub2

Table 1.

Search history

Years Detail
All years to April 2004 Citations identified: 593
Excluded: 551 for the following reasons

  1. Duplicate references (N = 209)

  2. Not a randomised controlled trial (N = 68) or ongoing trial (N = 14)

  3. Subjects were not asthmatics (N = 4)

  4. No consistent intervention with inhaled corticosteroids in all subjects (N = 41)

  5. Intervention was not regular inhaled long-acting ß2 agonists (N = 19)

  6. Control intervention was not inhaled corticosteroids alone (N = 64)

  7. Duration of intervention < 30 days (N = 45)

  8. Outcomes measures did not reflect asthma control (N = 8)

  9. The treatment and intervention groups compared the same medications either in combination or with different delivery devices (N = 30)

  10. Co-intervention with non-permitted agent (n = 1)

  11. Examination of the combination of long acting beta 2-agonist and inhaled corticosteroid to the same dose of inhaled corticosteroid alone (N = 49)
Due to the large number of citations considered, the reasons for exclusion are provided only for published randomised controlled trials