On 28 October 2002 Dr. P. Badrinath commented on the possible
language bias (1) in the paper of Weingarten et al. (2). All sorts of
biases are being described when conducting meta-analyses (3), but database
bias seems to be overlooked. Weingarten et al. (2) searched Medline,
HealthStar, and Cochrane databases and Badrinath (1) searched Medline
alone.
The CINAHL database appears to be more appropriate to search for
subject headings like ‘primary nursing care’.
1)Badrinath P. Does the LANGUAGE bias deserve a mention?
bmj.com Rapid Responses for Weingarten et al., 325 (7370) 925.
2)Weingarten SR, Henning JM, Badamgarav E, Knight K, Hasselblad V, et
al. Interventions used in disease management programmes for patients with
chronic illness-which ones work? Meta-analysis of published reports. BMJ
2002;325:925.
Rapid Response:
Does the DATABASE bias deserve a mention?
Dear Editor,
On 28 October 2002 Dr. P. Badrinath commented on the possible
language bias (1) in the paper of Weingarten et al. (2). All sorts of
biases are being described when conducting meta-analyses (3), but database
bias seems to be overlooked. Weingarten et al. (2) searched Medline,
HealthStar, and Cochrane databases and Badrinath (1) searched Medline
alone.
The CINAHL database appears to be more appropriate to search for
subject headings like ‘primary nursing care’.
1)Badrinath P. Does the LANGUAGE bias deserve a mention?
bmj.com Rapid Responses for Weingarten et al., 325 (7370) 925.
2)Weingarten SR, Henning JM, Badamgarav E, Knight K, Hasselblad V, et
al. Interventions used in disease management programmes for patients with
chronic illness-which ones work? Meta-analysis of published reports. BMJ
2002;325:925.
3)Jadad AR. Randomised Controled Trials. A user’s guide. BMJ Books
1998
Competing interests: No competing interests