Source searched	Search strategy
MEDLINE In‐process and other non‐indexed citations and MEDLINE 1950‐present	1. exp Nicotine/ 2. nicotine.mp. 3. 1 or 2 4. alzheimer*.mp. 5. exp Alzheimer Disease/ 6. dement*.mp. 7. exp Dementia/ 8. or/4‐7 9. 3 and 8 10. randomized controlled trial.pt. 11. controlled clinical trial.pt. 12. randomized.ab. 13. placebo.ab. 14. drug therapy.fs. 15. randomly.ab. 16. trial.ab. 17. groups.ab. 18. or/10‐17 19. (animals not (humans and animals)).sh. 20. 18 not 19 21. 9 and 20 22. 2008*.ed. 23. 2009*.ed. 24. 2010*.ed. 25. or/22‐24 26. 21 and 25
EMBASE 1980‐2010 week 11	1. exp nicotine/ 2. nicotine.mp. 3. *smoking/ 4. or/1‐3 5. exp Alzheimer disease/ 6. alzheimer*.mp. 7. exp dementia/ 8. dement*.mp. 9. or/5‐8 10. 4 and 9 11. randomized controlled trial/ 12. random*.ti,ab. 13. trial.ti,ab. 14. placebo.ti,ab. 15. groups.ab. 16. or/11‐15 17. 10 and 16 18. 2008*.em. 19. 2009*.em. 20. 2010*.em. 21. or/18‐20 22. 21 and 17
PSYCINFO 1806‐March week 4 2010	1. exp Nicotine/ 2. nicotine.mp. 3. smoking.mp. 4. or/1‐3 5. exp Alzheimers Disease/ 6. alzheimer*.mp. 7. exp Dementia/ 8. dement*.mp. 9. or/5‐8 10. 4 and 9 11. random*.mp. 12. trial.mp. 13. placebo.ti,ab. 14. groups.ab. 15. exp Clinical Trials/ 16. "control group".ab. 17. or/11‐16 18. 10 and 17 19. 2008*.up. 20. 2009*.up. 21. 2010*.up. 22. or/19‐21 23. 18 and 22
CINAHL (EBSCOhost)	S1 (MH "Nicotine") or (MM "Nicotinic Agonists") or (MM "Nicotinic Antagonists") or (MM "Cholinergic Agents")   S2 TX nicoti* S3 S1 or S2   S4 (MH "Alzheimer's Disease")   S5 TX alzheimer* S6 (MH "Dementia+") or (MH "Delirium, Dementia, Amnestic, Cognitive Disorders")   S7 TX dement* S8 S4 or S5 or S6 or S7   S9 S3 and S8   S10 TX random* S11 TX placebo   S12 (MH "Clinical Trials")   S13 AB groups   S14 TX trial   S15 TX "control group"   S16 S10 or S11 or S12 or S13 or S14 or S15   S17 S9 and S16   S18 EM 2008   S19 EM 2009   S20 EM 2010   S21 S18 or S19 or S20   S22 S17 and S21
CENTRAL The Cochrane Library	#1 MeSH descriptor Nicotine explode all trees #2 nicotin* #3 (#1 OR #2) #4 MeSH descriptor Alzheimer Disease explode all trees #5 alzheimer* #6 MeSH descriptor Dementia explode all trees #7 dement* #8 )#4 OR #5 OR #6 OR #7) #9 (#3 AND #8) #10 (#9), from 2008 to 2010 [Clinical Trials]
LILACS (BIREME)	(nicotine OR nicotina) AND (Alzheimer$ OR dementia OR demencia)
ALOIS www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/alois	Advanced search: [Study aim] Treatment Dementia AND [Study Design] RCT AND [Intervention] (starts with) nico
Umin (Clinical Trial Register of Japan)	Free keyword: nicotine
Clinicaltrials.gov	Interventional Studies | alzheimer OR alzheimers OR alzheimer's OR dementia | nicotine OR nicotinic | Adult Senior | received from 01/01/2008 to 03/25/2010
ICTRP Search Portal	Advanced search: [Condition:(alzheimer OR alzheimers OR alzheimer's OR dementia)] AND [Intervention: nicotine] AND [date rec: 01/01/2008 to 25/03/2010]
ISI Web of Knowledge ‐ all databases	Topic=(nicotin*) AND Topic=(alzheimer* OR dement*) AND Topic=(random* OR trial OR placebo OR study OR "control group") AND Year Published=(2007‐2010)