Table 1 Search strategy for the identification of articles on the methods used for small clinical trials
From: Experimental designs for small randomised clinical trials: an algorithm for choice
Terms combined in PubMed search | |
• | (“Rare diseases” OR “orphan*”) AND (“Epidemiologic Methods” OR “Research Design” OR “Clinical Trials as Topic”) |
• | Rare disease* |
• | Clinical trial* |
• | Clinical research |
• | Withdrawal |
• | Winner* |
• | Loser* |
• | Sequential |
• | Adaptive |
• | Delayed start |
• | Early escape |
• | N-of-1 |
• | Randomi* |
• | Placebo phase |
• | Three stage |
Journals (years) hand-searched: | |
• | Statistics in Medicine (1990–2010) |
• | Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases (2006–2010) |
• | Controlled Clinical Trials (2000–2004) |
• | Contemporary Clinical Trials (2005–2010) |
• | BMC Medical Research Methodology (2001–2011) |
• | Journal of Biopharmaceutical Statistics (1991–2012) |
• | Biometrical Journal (1990 – 2012) |
• | Statistica Sinica (1991–2012) |
• | Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference (1990 – 2012) |
• | Journal of the American Statistical Association (1990–2012) |
• | American Journal of Biostatistics (2010 – 2012) |