Below are tips and tricks for finding evidence in PubMed.
1. RUN A FILTERED SEARCH
Click Clinical Queries under the PubMed Tools heading on the home page. This filters your results into Clinical Studies and Systematic Reviews. You can narrow your search by type of question: therapy, diagnosis, etc..
OR
Use standard PubMed and apply Article Type filters: clinical trials, systematic reviews, meta-analysis, practice guidelines, RCTs. These are available on the left-hand side of the search results screen. See the tutorial.
2. USE PUBMED'S SEARCH TERMS AND TAGS
See examples below of keyword or MeSH terms for diagnosis, therapy, etc.. questions
MeSH terms are PubMed's medical subject headings and help target your search.
Keywords can be qualified with tags: search within the title of a citation using the [ti] tag or within the title and abstract using the [tw] tag.
DIAGNOSIS QUESTIONS
Search terms:
Sensitivity and Specificity [MeSH]
Comparative Study [MeSH]
Differential Diagnosis [MeSH]
False Negative Reactions [MeSH]
False Positive Reactions [MeSH]
Predictive Value of Tests [MeSH]
Article Types: Clinical Trial and Meta-analysis
THERAPY QUESTIONS
Search terms:
Randomized Controlled Trial [PT]
Double Blind Method [MeSH]
Treatment Outcome [MeSH]
Placebo*[tw]
Random*[tw]
Article Types:
Randomized Controlled Trial
Controlled Clinical Trial
Clinical Trial
Meta-Anaylsis
Multicenter Study
ETIOLOGY QUESTIONS
Search terms:
Case-Control Studies [MeSH]
Causality [MeSH]
Cohort Studies [MeSH]
Comparative Study [MeSH]
Follow-up Studies [MeSH]
Risk [MeSH] (Explode)
Longitudinal Studies [MeSH]
Odds [tw] AND Ratio*[tw]
Risk [tw]
Article Types: Randomized Controlled Trial and Meta-analysis
PROGNOSIS QUESTIONS
Search terms:
Cohort Studies [MeSH]
Disease Progression [MeSH]
Morbidity [MeSH]
Mortality [MeSH]
Outcome Assessment [MeSH]
Prognosis [MeSH]
Survival Analysis [MeSH]
Course [ti]