Table 1.

Methodological search filters tested

Study design	PubMed	Embase
Systematic reviews	((“Meta-Analysis as Topic”[MeSH] OR meta analy*[TIAB] OR metaanaly*[TIAB] OR “Meta-Analysis”[PT] OR “Systematic Review”[PT] OR “Systematic Reviews as Topic”[MeSH] OR systematic review*[TIAB] OR systematic overview*[TIAB] OR “Review Literature as Topic”[MeSH]) OR (cochrane[TIAB] OR embase[TIAB] OR psychlit[TIAB] OR psyclit[TIAB] OR psychinfo[TIAB] OR psycinfo[TIAB] OR cinahl[TIAB] OR cinhal[TIAB] OR “science citation index”[TIAB] OR bids[TIAB] OR cancerlit[TIAB]) OR (reference list*[TIAB] OR bibliograph*[TIAB] OR hand-search*[TIAB] OR “relevant journals”[TIAB] OR manual search*[TIAB]) OR ((“selection criteria”[TIAB] OR “data extraction”[TIAB]) AND “Review”[PT])) NOT (“Comment”[PT] OR “Letter”[PT] OR “Editorial”[PT] OR (“Animals”[MeSH] NOT (“Animals”[MeSH] AND “Humans”[MeSH])))	((‘meta analysis (topic)’/exp OR ‘meta analysis’/exp OR (meta NEXT/1 analy*):ab,ti OR metaanaly*:ab,ti OR ‘systematic review (topic)’/exp OR ‘systematic review’/exp OR (systematic NEXT/1 review*):ab,ti OR (systematic NEXT/1 overview*):ab,ti) OR (cancerlit:ab,ti OR cochrane:ab,ti OR embase:ab,ti OR psychlit:ab,ti OR psyclit:ab,ti OR psychinfo:ab,ti OR psycinfo:ab,ti OR cinahl:ab,ti OR cinhal:ab,ti OR ‘science citation index’:ab,ti OR bids:ab,ti) OR ((reference NEXT/1 list*):ab,ti OR bibliograph*:ab,ti OR hand-search*:ab,ti OR (manual NEXT/1 search*):ab,ti OR ‘relevant journals’:ab,ti) OR ((‘data extraction’:ab,ti OR ‘selection criteria’:ab,ti) AND review/it)) NOT (letter/it OR editorial/it OR (‘animal’/exp NOT (‘animal’/exp AND ‘human’/exp)))
Intervention studies	Original Filter: ((“Clinical Trial”[PT] OR “Comparative Study”[PT] OR “Cross-Over Studies”[MeSH] OR “Clinical Trials as Topic”[MeSH] OR random*[TIAB] OR controll*[TIAB] OR “intervention study”[TIAB] OR “experimental study”[TIAB] OR “comparative study”[TIAB] OR trial[TIAB] OR evaluat*[TIAB] OR “before and after”[TIAB] OR “interrupted time series”[TIAB]) NOT (“Animals”[MeSH] NOT (Animals[MeSH] AND “Humans”[MeSH])))	Original Filter: (‘randomized controlled trial’/exp OR ‘clinical trial’/exp OR ‘comparative study’/exp OR random*:ab,ti OR control*:ab,ti OR ‘intervention study’:ab,ti OR ‘experimental study’:ab,ti OR ‘comparative study’:ab,ti OR trial:ab,ti OR evaluat*:ab,ti OR ‘before and after’:ab,ti OR ‘interrupted time series’:ab,ti) NOT (‘animal’/exp NOT ‘human’/exp)
	Optimized filter: ((“Clinical Trial”[PT] OR “Comparative Study”[PT] OR “Evaluation study”[PT] OR “Cross-Over Studies”[MeSH] OR “Clinical Trials as Topic”[MeSH] OR random*[TIAB] OR controll*[TIAB] OR “intervention study”[TIAB] OR “experimental study”[TIAB] OR “comparative study”[TIAB] OR trial[TIAB] OR trials[TIAB] OR evaluat*[TIAB] OR repeat*[TIAB] OR compar*[TIAB] OR versus[TIAB] OR “before and after”[TIAB] OR “interrupted time series”[TIAB]) NOT (“Animals”[MeSH] NOT (Animals[MeSH] AND “Humans”[MeSH])))	Optimized filter: (‘randomized controlled trial’/exp OR ‘clinical trial’/exp OR ‘comparative study’/exp OR ‘controlled study’/de OR ‘evaluation study’/de OR ‘human experiment’/exp OR random*:ab,ti OR control*:ab,ti OR ‘intervention study’:ab,ti OR ‘experimental study’:ab,ti OR ‘comparative study’:ab,ti OR trial:ab,ti OR trials:ab,ti OR compar*:ab,ti OR repeat*:ab,ti OR crossover:ab,ti OR ‘double blind’:ab,ti OR evaluat*:ab,ti OR ‘before and after’:ab,ti OR ‘interrupted time series’:ab,ti) NOT (‘animal’/exp NOT ‘human’/exp)
Observational studies	“Epidemiologic Studies”[MeSH] OR “case control”[TIAB] OR “case-control”[TIAB] OR ((case[TIAB] OR cases[TIAB]) AND (control[TIAB] OR controls[TIAB)) OR “cohort study”[TIAB] OR “cohort analysis”[TIAB] OR “follow up study”[TIAB] OR “follow-up study”[TIAB] OR “observational study”[TIAB] OR longitudinal[TIAB] OR retrospective[TIAB] OR “cross sectional”[TIAB] OR questionnaire[TIAB] OR questionnaires[TIAB] OR survey[TIAB]	‘clinical study’/exp OR ‘cohort analysis’/exp OR ‘case control’:ab,ti OR ‘case-control’:ab,ti OR ((case:ab,ti OR cases:ab,ti) AND (control:ab,ti OR controls:ab,ti)) OR ‘cohort study’:ab,ti OR ‘cohort analysis’:ab,ti OR ‘follow up study’:ab,ti OR ‘follow-up study’:ab,ti OR ‘observational study’:ab,ti OR longitudinal:ab,ti OR retrospective:ab,ti OR ‘cross sectional’:ab,ti OR questionnaire:ab,ti OR questionnaires:ab,ti OR survey:ab,ti OR ‘epidemiological study’:ab,ti