Ovid Database Guide

Evidence Based Medicine Reviews:
Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects

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Database guide last
updated August 19, 2016

Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) is the part of Ovid's Evidence Based Medicine Reviews collection, and is produced by the expert and information staff of the National Health Services' Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (NHS CRD) at the University of York, England.

DARE is a full text database containing critical assessments of systematic reviews from a variety of medical journals. DARE contains structured abstracts of systematic reviews from around the world. Its records cover topics such as diagnosis, prevention, rehabilitation, screening, and treatment.

DARE includes bi-directional links with Ovid MEDLINE and Ovid Full text.

Note that NIHR funding to produce DARE and NHS EED ceased at the end of March 2015. These databases can still be accessed on Ovid, but will not be updated. More information can be found at: http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/crdweb/newspage.asp#changesdare.

Segments and Years of Coverage
Name		Years of Coverage
DARE		1991 - 2015

This database does not support Ovid's AutoAlerts. If you want to create a reusable search strategy, save the search as a Permanent Saved Search instead. See the Ovid Online Help System for details about saved searches.

Fields
The following list is sorted alphabetically by field alias. Click a field name to see the description and search information.
All Fields in this Database
	Accession Number (AN)	Reviewed Article Pagination (GO)	Reviewed Source (SR)
	All Searchable Fields (AF)	Keyword (KW)	Title (TI)
	Reviewed Article Author (AY)	Reviewed Article Issue/Part (PO)	Reviewed Article Title (TO)
	Reviewed Article Date of Publication (DO)	Publication Type (PT)	Text Word (TW)
	Date of Publication (DP)	References (RF)	Full Text (TX)
	Date of Most Recent Amendment (DR)	Reviewed Article Journal Words (RW)
	Reviewed Article Volume (DV)	Reviewed Article Journal Name (SJ)
	External Accession Number (EN)
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Default Fields for Unqualified Searches (MP): Searching for a term without specifying a field in Advanced search, or specifying .mp., defaults to the following ‘multi-purpose’ (.mp.) fields for this database:ti,ab,hw.
	Full Text (TX)	Keywords (KW)	Title (TI)
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Default Fields for Display, Print, Email, and Save: The following fields are included by default for each record.
	Accession Number (AN)	Publication Type (PT)	Title (TI)
	Author (AU)	Reviewed Source (SR)
	Institution (IN)	Source (SO)
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All Fields for Display, Print, Email, and Save: Use the Select Fields button in the Results Manager at the bottom of the Main Search Page to choose the fields for a record.
	Accession Number (AN)	Institution (IN)	References (RF)
	Author (AU)	Keywords (KW)	Reviewed Source (SR)
	Date of Most Recent Amendment (DR)	Local Messages (LM)	Source (SO)
	External Accession Number (EN)	Publication Type (PT)	Title (TI)
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Elements of Source (SO) Field: Ovid searches the following fields as part of the record source.
	Issue/Part (IP)	Journal Name (JN)	Year of Publication (YR)
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The following list is sorted alphabetically by the two-letter label, and includes the relevant alias, at least one example for all searchable fields, and a description of the field.

Label	Name / Example
AF	All Searchable Fields [Search Alias] heart.af.
	All Fields (AF) is an alias for all of the fields which occur in the source documents, including value-added fields such as Full Text (TX).
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AN	Accession Number [Phrase Indexed] 00125498-100000000-00042.an.
	The Accession Number (AN) field contains a 22-digit number that uniquely identifies each document in the database. When searching this field, include all leading zeros and internal hyphens. The Accession Number is not related to the 8-digit MEDLINE Unique Identifier.
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AY	Reviewed Article Author [Phrase Indexed] smith$.ay. reynolds l.ay.
	The Reviewed Article Author (AY) field contains the names of all the authors of the article or study being reviewed. Type the author's last name, followed by a space and the initial (if known). If you are unsure of the spelling of the last name, enter one version and you will be able to find the others.
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DO	Reviewed Article Date of Publication [Word Indexed] "1999".do.
	The Reviewed Article Date of Publication (DO) field contains the year of publication for the article or study being reviewed.
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DP	Date of Publication [Word Indexed] january.dp.
	The Date of Publication (DP) field contains the month and year in which the DARE record was published.
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DR	Date of Most Recent Amendment [Word Indexed] 05-31-1999.dr. "1999".dr.
	The Date of Most Recent Amendment (DR) field contains the month, year, and possibly the day that the DARE record was last updated. The format for searching this field is MM-DD-YYYY. Note: When the value for months and days (MM and DD) are less than 10, the date must be padded with 0's; so, the date August 29, 1999 must be searched as 08-29-1999. When searching this field, be sure to include all internal hyphens and zeros.
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DV	Reviewed Article Volume [Phrase Indexed] "10".dv.
	The Reviewed Article Volume (DV) field contains the volume number of the printed journal in which the article being reviewed was published. This field displays as part of the Reviewed Source (SR) field.
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EN	External Accession Number [Phrase Indexed] dare 988592.en.
	The External Accession Number (EN) field contains a 6-digit number which uniquely identifies each document in the Cochrane Library database. Each 6-digit number is preceded by the letters "DARE". The External Accession Number is not related to the Ovid accession number or to the MEDLINE Unique Identifier.
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GO	Reviewed Article Pagination [Phrase Indexed] 103.go.
	The Reviewed Article Pagination (GO) field contains the starting page number of the reviewed article in the printed journal in which it was published. This field displays as part of the Reviewed Source (SR) field. Often, a search using the publication year and the beginning page number is enough to locate a particular citation.
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KW	Keyword [Word Indexed] heart surgery.kw.
	The Keywords (KW) field contains subject heading words used to describe the content of DARE records. Some subject headings are assigned by NLM and others are assigned by the Center for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD). The assigning body is noted in each record. Subject headings should not be searched in the KW field in the same way that MeSH terms are searched. For example, if the word displays as myocardial infarction/ai, it should be searched as myocardial infarction ai.kw.
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PO	Reviewed Article Issue/Part [Word Indexed] 120.po.
	The Reviewed Article Issue/Part (PO) field includes the issue and supplement number in which the reviewed article was published. This field displays as part of the Reviewed Source (SR) field.
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PT	Publication Type [Phrase Indexed] miscellaneous.pt.
	The Publication Type (PT) field describes a document's overall form and substance in broad categories. The DARE database only contains the following publication type: Miscellaneous. Enter the first few letters of the desired publication type or enter the letter "a" to view and select for the complete list of publication types.
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RF	References [Word Indexed] lancet.rf. hillner b e.rf. hillner$.rf
	The References (RF) field includes complete bibliographic citations for publications cited in full text documents by the author. These references can be viewed along with the citation or with full text. When available, references in the full text document contain links to bibliographic and full text records. Enter the desired reference information consisting of words typically found in a reference. Consider searching on words in the document title, journal name or abbreviation, author name, page number, or year.
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RW	Reviewed Article Journal Words [Word Indexed] england.rw
	The Reviewed Article Journal Words (RW) field contains individual words from every journal in which a reviewed article was published.
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SJ	Reviewed Article Journal Name [Phrase Indexed] acta radiologica.sj.
	The Reviewed Article Journal Name (SJ) field contains the full name of the journal in which the article being reviewed was published.
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SR	Reviewed Source [Word Indexed] harvard.sr.
	The Reviewed Source (SR) field includes the complete bibliographic citation for the publication being reviewed. These references can be viewed with the citation or with the full text. To search the Reviewed Source field, enter the desired reference information consisting of words typically found in a reference. Consider searching on words in the document title, journal name or abbreviation, author name, page number, or year. If you want a specific type of information (such as the title of a document), you can also choose to search in one of the following fields: Reviewed Article Title (TO), Reviewed Article Journal (SJ), Reviewed Article Author (AY), Reviewed Article Page Number (GO), or Reviewed Article Year (YO). When available, reviewed source references in the full text document contain links to bibliographic and full text records.
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TI	Title [Word Indexed] cancer.ti.
	The Title (TI) field contains the title of the DARE record, which generally corresponds to the title of the Reviewed Source (SR), as well. Stopwords (which include commonly occurring words such as "of" and "the") are not indexed. However, the word "a" (which is a stopword in other fields) can be searched in the Title (TI) field.
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TO	Reviewed Article Title [Word Indexed] neonat$.to.
	The Reviewed Article Title (TO) field contains the title of the article being reviewed. Stopwords such as "of" or "the" will display in documents but do not appear in the title index. However, the word "a" (which is a stopword in other fields) can be searched in the Reviewed Article Title field.
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TW	Text Word [Word Indexed] neuroleptic.tw.
	The Text Word (TW) field is ideal for broad retrieval of an author's specialized terminology. Searches in this field are conducted simultaneously in the Title (TI), Keywords (KW), and Full Text (TX) fields. If you believe that your search word or phrase (such as the term "blood pressure") has been used frequently in the literature, you can focus the results of your search more closely by using the Title (TI) or Keywords (KW) fields, or by using one of the limits to restrict the results of your search.
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TX	Full Text [Word Indexed] angioplasty.tx. heart attack.tx.
	The Full Text (TX) field contains the complete document text. This field allows you to retrieve all documents with even the most passing mention of your search term. Since this field contains such a large quantity of diverse information, most searches for a specific subject will result in retrieval of higher relevance if conducted in the Title (TI) or Keywords (KW) fields. Stopwords (which include commonly occurring words such as "of" and "the") are not indexed.
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Advanced Searching
You can use special search syntax listed below to combine search terms or strategically develop a search. Full documentation is provided in the Advanced Searching Techniques section of the Online Help.
Operator	Syntax	Search Example
OR	x or y	vitamin c or ascorbic acid
	The OR operator retrieves records that contain any or all of the search terms. For example, the search heart attack or myocardial infarction retrieves results that contain the terms heart attack, myocardial infarction or both terms; results are all inclusive. You can use the OR operator in both unqualified searches and searches applied to a specific field.
AND	x and y	vitamin c and ascorbic acid
	The AND operator retrieves only those records that include all of the search terms. For example, the search blood pressure and stroke retrieves results that contain the term blood pressure and the term stroke together in the same record; results are exclusive of records that do not contain both of these terms. You can use the AND operator in both unqualified searches and searches applied to a specific field.
NOT	x not y	vitamin c not ascorbic acid
	The NOT operator retrieves records that contain the first search term and excludes the second search term. For example, the search health reform not health maintenance organizations retrieves only those records that contain the term health reform but excludes the term health maintenance organizations. In this way, you can use the NOT operator to restrict results to a specific topic. You can use the NOT operator in both unqualified searches and searches applied to a specific field.
Adjacency (ADJ)	x y	autism aspergers
	The Adjacent operator (ADJ) retrieves records with search terms next to each other in that specific order. You do not need to separate search terms manually by inserting ADJ between them, because when you separate terms with a space on the command line, Ovid automatically searches for the terms adjacent to one another. For example, the search blood pressure is identical to the search blood adj pressure.
Defined Adjacency (ADJn)	x ADJn y	autism adj3 aspergers
	The defined adjacency operator (ADJn) retrieves records that contain search terms within a specified number (n-1) of words from each other in any order (stop-words included). To use the adjacency operator, separate your search terms with ADJ and a number from 1 to 99 as explained below: ADJ1 Next to each other, in any order ADJ2 Next to each other, in any order, up to 1 word in between ADJ3 Next to each other, in any order, up to 2 words in between ADJ99 Next to each other, in any order, up to 98 words in between For example, the search physician adj5 relationship retrieves records that contain the words physician and relationship with a maximum of four words in between in either direction. This particular search retrieves records containing such phrases as physician patient relationship, patient physician relationship, or relationship between cancer patient and physician. Please note Ovid’s order of operation handles terms within parentheses first. Therefore it is recommended to apply the ADJn operator in one-on-one operations to avoid missing out on results. E.g. stroke adj4 (blood pressure or high blood pressure) could potentially miss out on some combinations of stroke with high blood pressure. The optimum way to execute this on Ovid is: (stroke adj4 blood pressure) OR (stroke adj4 high blood pressure).
Frequency (FREQ)	x.ab./FREQ=n	blood.ab. /freq=5
	The frequency operator (FREQ) lets you specify a threshold of occurrence of a term in the records retrieved from your search. Records containing your search term are retrieved only if the term occurs at least the specified (n) number of times. In general, records that contain many instances of your search term are more relevant than records that contain fewer instances. The frequency operator is particularly useful when searching a text field, such as Abstract or Full Text, for a common word or phrase.
Unlimited Truncation ($)	x$	rat$
	Unlimited truncation retrieves all possible suffix variations of the root word indicated. To apply unlimited truncation to a term, type the root word or phrase followed by either of the truncation characters: $ (dollar sign) or * (asterisk). For example, in the truncated search rat, Ovid retrieves the word rat* as well as the words rats, and more.
Limited Truncation ($)	x$n	dog$1
	Limited truncation specifies a maximum number of characters that may follow the root word or phrase. For example, the truncated search dog$1 retrieves results with the words dog and dogs; but it does not retrieve results with the word dogma.
Mandated Wildcard (#)	xx#y	wom#n
	Searching with a mandated wildcard retrieves all possible variations of a word in which the wildcard is present in the specified place. You can use it at the end of a term to limit results to only those that contain the word plus the mandated character. For example, the search dog# retrieves results that contain the word dogs, but not those that contain the word dog, effectively limiting results to only those that contain the plural form of the word. The mandated wild card character (#) is also useful for retrieving specialized plural forms of a word. For example, the search wom#n retrieves results that contain both woman and women. You can use multiple wild cards in a single query word.
Optional Wildcard (?)	xx?y	colo?r
	The optional wild card character (?) can be used within or at the end of a search term to substitute for one or no characters. This wild card is useful for retrieving documents with British and American word variants since it specifies that you want retrieval whether or not the extra character is present. For example, the optional wild card search colo?r retrieves results that contain the words color or colour. You can use multiple wild cards in a single query word.
Literal String ("")	"x / y"	"Heat / Cold Application"
Literal String ("")	"n"	"3".vo
	Quotation marks can be used to retrieve records that contain literal strings, when the string includes special characters, such as a forward slash (/). Quotation marks can also be used to retrieve records that contain numbers that may otherwise be confused for earlier searches. In the example, a search for 3.vo would limit the string from your third search in your search history to the volume field. By including the number in quotation marks, the search will retrieve documents with a 3 in the volume number.
Romper Searching		“use coch,acp,dare,cca,cctr,clcmr,clhta,cleed"
	The Romper searching can be done only on single segments or a group of single segments. If you are searching for a multi-file of ebmz you can put in any or all the segments that make up ebmz. For example, command “dog.ti use coch,acp,dare,cca,cctr,clcmr,clhta,cleed" to include any or all segments of ebmz.
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Stopwords

The Ovid search engine applies so called "run-time stopword processing". This means the search engine on the fly ignores the stopwords: and, as, by, for, from, in, is, of, on, that, the, this, to, was, were & with.

Therefore a search: at risk for diabetes.ti will also find: at risk of diabetes. The distance of one word in between is kept, but the stopword "for" is ignored.

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Limits
The following limits are available for this database. See Database Limits in the Ovid Online Help for details on applying limits.
Limit	Syntax
New Reviews	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to new reviews
	A limit to New Reviews will restrict retrieval to documents that have been added to the database since the last update.
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Tools

Currently no tools are available for this database.

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Changing to this Database
To change a search session to a segment of this database from another database or another segment, use the following syntax in the Ovid Syntax tab:
	Command Syntax:	..c/dare
	Sentence Syntax:	use dare
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Sample Documents

Sample 1

Author's objective 
Specific interventions included in the review
Participants included in the review 
Outcomes assessed in the review
Study designs of evaluations included in the review
What sources were searched to identify primary studies? 
Criteria on which the validity (or quality) of studies was assessed
How were the inclusion criteria applied?
How were judgements of validity (or quality) made?
How were the data extracted from primary studies? 
Number of studies included 
How were the studies combined?
How were differences between studies investigated? Results of the review 
Was any cost information reported?
Author's conclusions
What are the implications of the review?
Review funding body
Other publications of related interest
Record status
Contact address
CRD Comment
Keyword Index terms

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Producer Information

Producer

NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination
University of York
York Y01 5DD
UK
FAX: (+44)-1904-433661
email: [email protected]

Copyright

The following general usage statement applies to all journals:

The materials contained herein are proprietary to the publishers and/or individual copyright holders and may only be used by authorized users of the subscribing institutions for internal or personal research. Authorized users may (i) print data obtained from searches and make limited copies of such printed search results, (ii) download data obtained from searches and (iii) retransmit search results electronically or otherwise to a limited number of authorized users at the same institution. Authorized users are precluded from: (i) copying, duplication, redistribution, retransmission, publication, transfer or commercial or other exploitation of the databases or the contents thereof, except as permitted herein or pursuant to user guidelines of the individual copyright holders, (ii) preparation of derivative works or incorporation of the databases or contents thereof in any other work or system; (iii) downloading of the contents in their entirety or lengthy sequence. Authorized users are referred to the individual copyright holder and/or to the copyright holder's usage guidelines within this database for additional restrictions which may be imposed by the copyright holder.

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