Table 3.

Search string for MEDLINE

Step	Search string
1	‘vitamin d’(tw) OR ‘vitamin D’(MeSH) OR cholecalciferol(MeSH) OR cholecalciferol*(tw) OR calciol(tw) OR hydroxycholecalciferols(MeSH) OR hydroxycholecalciferol*(tw) OR dihydroxycholecalciferol*(tw) OR ‘vitamin d3’(tw) OR ‘vitamin d 3’(tw) OR calcitriol(MeSH) OR calcitriol(tw) OR ‘1-hydroxycholecalciferol’(tw) OR calcifediol(MeSH) OR calcifediol(tw) OR calcidiol(tw) OR alfacalcidol(Supplementary Concept))OR alphacalcidol(tw) OR alfacalcidol(tw)
2	mortality(tw) OR mortality(MeSH) OR death(MeSH) OR death(tw) OR died(tw) OR dead(tw) OR survival(tw) OR surviv*(tw) OR survival(MeSH)
3	neoplasms(MeSH) OR neoplas*(tw) OR malignanc*(tw) OR cancer*(tw) OR tumour*(tw) OR tumour*(tw) OR carcinoma*(tw)
4	(((((((((‘randomized controlled trial’(pt)) OR ‘controlled clinical trial’(pt)) OR randomized(tiab)) OR placebo(tiab)) OR ‘drug therapy’(sh)) OR randomly(tiab)) OR trial(tiab)) OR groups(tiab))) NOT ((animals(mh) NOT humans(mh)))
5	placebos(MeSH) OR placebo(tw)
6	2 OR 3
7	1 AND 4 AND 5 AND 6

MeSH, medical subject headings.