Inclusion and exclusion criteria are used to define those articles of interest.
These criteria are usually applied to the results of a search and are not used to limit the search results.
Many of the criteria are determined by the elements of the question, such as limiting selected papers by the population, participants or problem under investigation, the type of intervention and outcomes.
Common criteria to use for inclusion or exclusion include:
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The type of question being asked may also determine the inclusion or exclusion criteria for types of studies which may be used in the review.
Example:
| Does the use of chlorhexidine mouthwash reduce gingivitis? | |||
| Included: | Criteria type: | Excluded: | Criteria type: |
| Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) | study design | studies where the duration of mouthrinsing was less than 4 weeks | study design |
| duration of mouthrinsing was at least 4 weeks | study design | cross-over studies in case chlorhexidine could exert an effect beyond the washout period | study design / confounding factor |
| children or adults with gingivitis or periodontitis capable of performing normal mechanical oral hygiene procedures | population & condition | where chlorhexidine mouthrinse was used as a monotherapy in the absence of mechanical oral hygiene procedures | study design |
| chlorhexidine mouthrinse (used at any concentration, volume, frequency or duration of rinsing) used in conjunction with mechanical oral hygiene procedures | exposure of interest | where the chlorhexidine mouthrinse formed part of a combined intervention with other agents that the comparator arm(s) did not receive | study design / confounding factor |
| where the mechanical oral hygiene procedures were not the same in both the chlorhexidine mouthrinse and the comparator arm(s) | study design / confounding factor | ||
| where chlorhexidine mouthrinse was applied locally e.g. with a brush or via subgingival irrigation | study design / confounding factor | ||
| where gingivitis was not measured using a recognised index/scale. | study design | ||
Depending on the scope and size of the review, limits to the search may or may not apply.
Some common limiters often applied to searches do not always apply as using limits at the search stage may omit relevant results from the review. However, in other cases they may be used.
Two of the most common limiters that may be applied at the search stage of systematic and similar reviews are date and language.
Date range:
Topics should not be limited by date if there is no clear date that applies.
However some topics will be limited by date by the nature of the question being asked.
Examples of this may be:
Language:
In thorough reviews, results should not be limited by language and results in other languages should be translated if possible.
However this is not always possible, especially for reviews being undertaken by individuals.
If results are limited by language, this should be noted as a limitation of the review.
The following table shows some different types of questions that may be asked as part of a review, and the types of studies that may apply. Depending on the question being asked, these may help determine the types of studies that may be used as part of the inclusion or exclusion criteria.
Type of question |
Description |
Study designs |
|---|---|---|
Treatment or Therapy or Solution |
Effect of intervention on patient, population or setting of interest | Trial or experiment; Cohort; Case control; Case series |
Harm or Aetiology (Causation) |
Effect of potentially harmful agents |
Cross sectional or prospective, blind comparison to gold standard |
Diagnosis |
Power of a test to differentiate between those with or without a disease or condition |
Trial or experiment; Cohort; Case control; Case series |
Prognosis or Forecast |
Estimate of a likely course over time |
Cohort; Case control; Case series |
Prevention |
Reducing chance by changing risk factors or diagnosing and treating early | Trial or experiment; Cohort; Case control; Case series |
Meaning |
Participants experience or attitudes | Narrative; Qualitative; Ethnographic; Phenomenological; Grounded theory; Case studies |
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