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Fungal nail infection (onychomycosis) - Evidence
Search strategy
Further information on the CKS literature searching policy is available in the 'About' section of the CKS website.
Scope of search
A literature search was conducted for guidelines, systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials on the primary care management of fungal nail infections, with additional searches in the following areas:
- Diagnosis
- Prevalence and epidemiology
- Topical and oral treatment
- Hygiene
Search dates
Medline and Embase - January 2005 – April 2009
Key search terms
Various combinations of searches were carried out. The terms listed below are the core search terms that were used for Medline and these were adapted for other databases. Further details are available on request.
- exp Onychomycosis/, onychomycosis.tw, onychomycoses.tw, fungal nail$.tw, nail fungus.tw, exp Nail Diseases/, tinea unguium.tw
- exp Hand Dermatoses/, exp Foot Dermatoses/
- exp Antifungal Agents/, terbinafine.tw, exp Itraconazole/, itraconazole.tw, exp Griseofulvin/, griseofulvin.tw, exp Fluconazole/, exp Ketoconazole/
- exp "Tea Tree Oil"/
- exp Hygiene/
Table 1. Key to search terms.
Search commands | Explanation |
|---|
/ | indicates a MeSH subject heading with all subheadings selected |
.tw | indicates a search for a term in the title or abstract |
exp | indicates that the MeSH subject heading was exploded to include the narrower, more specific terms beneath it in the MeSH tree |
$ | indicates that the search term was truncated (e.g. wart$ searches for wart and warts) |
Topic specific literature search sources
Sources of guidelines
Sources of systematic reviews and meta-analyses
- The Cochrane Library:
- Systematic reviews
- Protocols
- Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects
- Medline (with systematic review filter)
- EMBASE (with systematic review filter)
Sources of health technology assessments and economic appraisals
Sources of randomized controlled trials
- The Cochrane Library:
- Central Register of Controlled Trials
- Medline (with randomized controlled trial filter)
- EMBASE (with randomized controlled trial filter)
Sources of evidence based reviews and evidence summaries
Sources of national policy
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