Filters (aka hedges) are pre-constructed searches that can be used to limit search results. They are designed to search trickier concepts or concepts for which there are many other search terms. Common filter types can limit search results by things like:

• age group
• publication type
• study type

The filters listed on this page can be 'copied and pasted' line by line into database search boxes.

Note: Filters are customized to an individual database. Some filters have been validated; many have not. 

 Looking for other filters on study types, age groups, etc?

• Epidemiological Studies - from ISSG Search Filter Resource
• Indigenous Peoples - University of Alberta Library
• Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic (BAME) - from Library and Knowledge Service for NHS Ambulance Services in England. Includes Embase (OVID) filter and CINAHL (Ebsco)
• Additional Population-Specific Studies (includes hispanic/Latinx, women, LGBTQ)  - ISSG Search Filter Resource
• Racial Disparities - via Kansas City University. PubMed search hedge created by Chelsea Misquith, Public Health and Research Support Librarian at Brown University Library
• Socioeconomic Factors - University of Alberta Library
• Equity/Social determinants of health - BMC Medical Research Methodology  (See Additional File 1)

Prady, S.L., Uphoff, E.P., Power, M. et al. Development and validation of a search filter to identify equity-focused studies: reducing the number needed to screen. BMC Med Res Methodol 18, 106 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-018-0567-x

• Health values (quality of life, etc) - Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association

Mila Petrova, Paul Sutcliffe, K W M (Bill) Fulford, Jeremy Dale, Search terms and a validated brief search filter to retrieve publications on health-related values in Medline: a word frequency analysis study, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, Volume 19, Issue 3, May 2012, Pages 479–488, https://doi.org/10.1136/amiajnl-2011-000243

• Knowledge Translation - HIRU Information Research Unit

 

CORONAVIRUS

• Coronavirus Expert Search (OVID Medline, 1946-present) - developed Jan 21-22, 2020 by OVID expert searchers
  • Click the Get Search URL button (or enter below search lines in Medline)

1. (exp coronavirus/ or coronavirus*.mp.) and (wuhan or beijing or shanghai or 2019-nCoV or nCoV or COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2).mp.

2. coronavirus*.ti. or (novel coronavirus*.mp. and (exp china/ or china.mp.)) or ((pneumonia.mp. or exp pneumonia/) and Wuhan.mp.)

3. ("COVID-19" or "2019-nCoV" or "SARS-CoV-2").mp. or exp Coronavirus Infections/

4. 2 or 3

5. limit 4 to yr="2020 -Current"

6. 1 or 5

---

EBOLA:

• Ebola - general (OVID Medline, 1946-present)

1. exp Ebolavirus/
2. ebola.af.
3. 1 or 2

• Ebola - Diagnosis (OVID Medline, 1946 - present)

1. exp Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola/di,pa [Diagnosis, Pathology]
2. exp Ebolavirus/
3. ebola.af.
4. di.xs.
5. (2 or 3) and 4
6. 1 or 5
7. limit 6 to humans

• Ebola - Outbreaks (OVID Medline, 1946-present)

1. exp Ebolavirus/
2. ebola.af.
3. exp Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola/
4. 1 or 2 or 3
5. exp Disease Outbreaks/
6. outbreak$1.af.
7. epidemic$1.af.
8. 5 or 6 or 7
9. 4 and 8

• Ebola - Transmission (OVID Medline, 1946-present)

1. exp Ebolavirus/

2. tm.fs.
3. transmission.af.
4. 1 and (2 or 3)
5. exp Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola/tm [Transmission]
6. 4 or 5

• Ebola - Treatment (OVID Medline, 1946-present)

1. exp Ebolavirus/
2. th.fs.
3. (therap$3 or treatment$1 or therapeutic$1).af.
4. 1 and (2 or 3)
5. limit 4 to humans
6. Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola/dt, th [Drug Therapy, Therapy]
7. limit 6 to humans
8. 5 or 7

• Ebola - Vaccine (OVID Medline, 1946-present)

1. exp Ebolavirus/
2. ebola.af.
3. 1 or 2
4. exp Vaccines/
5. vaccine$1.ti,tc,ab,kf.
6. 4 or 5
7. 3 and 6
8. 7 or exp Ebola Vaccines

• Ebola - Virus Review (OVID Medline, 1946-present)

1. review.pt.
2. review literature as topic/
3. review.af.
4. 1 or 2 or 3
5. exp hemorrhagic fever, ebola/ or exp ebolavirus/
6. ebola.af.
7. virus$2.mp. [mp=title, abstract, original title, name of substance word, subject heading word, keyword heading word, protocol supplementary concept word, rare disease supplementary concept word, unique identifier]
8. (ebola virus or ebolavirus).af.
9. 6 and 7
10. 5 or 8 or 9
11. 4 and 10

---

MEASLES:

• Measles (OVID Medline, 1946-present)

1. *measles/ or *measles vaccine/ or *Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine/ or *Measles virus/
2. 1 not (exp animals/ not exp humans/)
3. (measles or (mmr and vaccin$6)).ti,kw.
4. ("in data review" or "pubmed not medline" or in process).st.
5. 2 or (3 and 4)

---

MERS - Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome

• MERS - Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (OVID Medline, 1946-present)

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus/ or (middle east* respirator* or (mers* and respirator*)).mp
coronavirus/ and ((middle east* or mid east*).ti,ab. or exp korea/)
(Novel coronavirus or nCoV).ti,ab. and ((middle east* or mid east*).ti,ab. or exp korea/)
((mers adj4 virus*) or (cov adj4 mers) or (Middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus or MERS-CoV)).ti,ab.
1 or 2 or 3 or 4
(merseburg or mersalyl).mp.
5 not 6

• MERS - Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (EMBASE)

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus/ or (middle east* respirator* or (mers* and respirator*)).mp.

coronavirus/ and ((middle east* or mid east*).ti,ab. or exp korea/)
(Novel coronavirusor nCoV).ti,ab. and ((middle east* or mid east*).ti,ab. or exp korea/)
((mers adj4 virus*) or (cov adj4 mers) or (Middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus or MERS-CoV)).ti,ab.
1 or 2 or 3 or 4
(merseburg or mersalyl).mp.
5 not 6

---

• Zika (OVID Medline, 1946-present)

Flavivirus Infections/ or Flavivirus/
*Disease Outbreaks/
1 and 2
zika.mp
Zika Virus Infection/ or Zika Virus/
3 or (4 or 5)

---

See other OVID Expert Searches on topics like current topics, various diseases, global health, EBM Filters, and study type filters.