Table 3

Frequency of spinal terms in titles, abstracts, and four databases

Spinal Terms Used in Search Strategies
Titles n = 38
Abstracts n = 371
MEDLINE (mh) n = 292
MANTIS (de) n = 282
CINAHL (sh) n = 132
Web of Science n = 262,3,4

Cervical vertebrae [mh] [sh] [de] / cervical
10
15
8
7
4
2
Lumbar vertebrae [mh] [sh] [de] /lumbar
3
6
1
7
2
4
Neck [mh] [sh] [de]

5
5
2
2
0
Para-spine, para-spinal

1




Spine [mh] [sh] [de] / Spinal
14
21
15
8
4
8
Thoracic vertebrae [mh] [sh] [de] / thoracic
1
2
1
3


Vertebral
2
4

4



[mh] = Medical Subject Headings in MEDLINE; [pt] = publication type in MEDLINE; [sh] = Subject Heading in CINAHL [de] = Descriptor in MANTIS Note: 1One study did not have an abstract online. 2Not all studies had abstracts. 3Web of Science does not have a controlled vocabulary. 4Eleven studies had no keywords generated. * is a truncation symbol for a wild card search in PubMed and Web of Science.

Murphy et al. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2003 3:3   doi:10.1186/1472-6882-3-3