. 2022 Jun 30;12(6):e056538. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-056538

Table 2.

Examples of the search strategy that will generate the articles to review for the research question

Database	Search terms	Customisation
Cochrane	((“traumatic brain injury”) OR (coma) OR (“persistent vegetative state”) OR (“minimally conscious state”) OR (“consciousness disorder”) OR (“disorder of consciousness”)) AND ((recovery) OR (“activities of daily living”) OR (awareness) OR (wakefulness)) AND ((“critical care outcome”) OR (“treatment outcome”) OR (“outcome assessment”) OR (evaluation) OR (assessment))	1987–2020, all publication types
Embase	((exp traumatic brain injury/ OR traumatic brain injur.ti, ab.) OR (exp coma/ OR coma.ti, ab.) OR (exp persistent vegetative state/ OR persistent vegetative state.ti, ab.) OR (exp minimally conscious state/ OR minimally conscious state.ti, ab.) OR (exp consciousness disorder/ OR consciousness disorder.ti, ab. OR disorder of consciousness.ti, ab.)) AND ((exp convalescence/ OR convalescence.ti, ab. OR recover.ti, ab.) OR (exp daily life activity/ OR daily life activit.ti, ab. OR activit* of daily living.ti, ab.) OR (exp awareness/ OR awareness.ti, ab.) OR (exp wakefulness/ OR wakefulness.ti, ab.)) AND ((exp critical care outcome/ OR critical care outcome.ti, ab.) OR (exp treatment outcome/ OR treatment outcome.ti, ab.) OR (evaluation.ti, ab.) OR (exp outcome assessment/ OR assessment.ti, ab.))	English, 1986–2020
PsycInfo	(SU (“traumatic brain injur”) OR TI (“traumatic brain injur”) OR AB (“traumatic brain injur”) OR SU (coma) OR TI (coma) OR AB (coma) OR SU (“persistent vegetative state”) OR TI (“persistent vegetative state”) OR AB (“persistent vegetative state”) OR SU (“minimally conscious state”) OR TI (“minimally conscious state”) OR AB (“minimally conscious state”) OR SU (“consciousness disorder”) OR TI (“consciousness disorder”) OR AB (“consciousness disorder”) OR SU (“disorder of consciousness”) OR TI (“disorder* of consciousness”) OR AB (“disorder* of consciousness”)) AND (SU (recover) OR TI (recover) OR AB (recover) OR SU (“activit of daily living”) OR TI (“activit* of daily living”) OR AB (“activit* of daily living”) OR SU (awareness) OR TI (awareness) OR AB (awareness) OR SU (wakefulness) OR TI (wakefulness) OR AB (wakefulness)) AND (SU (“critical care outcome”) OR TI (“critical care outcome”) OR AB (“critical care outcome”) OR SU (“treatment outcome”) OR TI (“treatment outcome”) OR AB (“treatment outcome”) OR SU (“outcome assessment”) OR TI (“outcome assessment”) OR AB (“outcome assessment”) OR SU (evaluation) OR TI (evaluation) OR AB (evaluation) OR SU (assessment) OR TI (assessment) OR AB (assessment*))	January 1987–31 December 2020, English only
PubMed	(Severe Traumatic Brain Injury [tiab] OR Brain Injuries, Traumatic [mesh] OR traumatic brain injury [tiab] OR coma, post-head injury [mesh] OR persistent vegetative state [mesh] OR minimally conscious state [tiab] OR consciousness disorders [mesh] OR disorders of consciousness [tiab]) AND (recovery [tiab] OR recovery of function [mesh] OR activities of daily living [mesh] OR awareness [mesh] OR awareness [tiab] OR wakefulness [mesh] OR wakefulness [tiab]) AND (Critical care outcomes [mesh] OR treatment outcome [mesh] OR “outcome assessment (health care)” [mesh] OR disability evaluation [mesh] OR evaluation [tiab] OR patient outcome assessment [mesh] OR assessment [tiab])	Humans, English, 1 January 1986–31 December 2020
Scopus	(TITLE-ABS-KEY (“traumatic brain injur”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (coma) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (“persistent vegetative state”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (“minimally conscious state”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (“consciousness disorder”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (“disorder of consciousness”)) AND (TITLE-ABS-KEY (recover) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (“activit of daily living”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (awareness) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (wakefulness)) AND (TITLE-ABS-KEY (“critical care outcome”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (“treatment outcome”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (“outcome assessment”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (evaluation) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (assessment*))	English

*Search dates will include 1 January 1986 to 31 December 2020.