pubmed-metaanalysis

What I Do

Search PubMed for meta-analyses and systematic reviews on medical topics using the NCBI E-utilities API. I help you:

Find meta-analyses on specific medical conditions, treatments, or interventions
Retrieve article titles, authors, publication dates, and abstracts
Filter results to focus on systematic reviews and meta-analyses only

When to Use Me

Use this skill when you need to:

Look up meta-analyses on a medical topic
Find systematic reviews for evidence-based research
Get an overview of aggregated research on a health topic

How to Search PubMed for Meta-Analyses

Step 1: Search for Article IDs

Use the NCBI ESearch API to find meta-analyses. The key is adding the

meta-analysis[pt]

publication type filter.

Base URL:

https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esearch.fcgi

Required Parameters:

```
db=pubmed
```
- Search the PubMed database

term=<SEARCH_QUERY>+AND+meta-analysis[pt]

- Your search term + meta-analysis filter

```
retmax=20
```
- Number of results to return (adjust as needed)
```
retmode=json
```
- Return JSON format

Example Search URL:

https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esearch.fcgi?db=pubmed&term=diabetes+treatment+AND+meta-analysis[pt]&retmax=20&retmode=json

Alternative Filters:

```
systematic+review[pt]
```
- For systematic reviews

(meta-analysis[pt]+OR+systematic+review[pt])

- For both types

Step 2: Fetch Article Details

Use the NCBI ESummary or EFetch API to get article details using the IDs from Step 1.

ESummary (for basic info):

https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esummary.fcgi?db=pubmed&id=<ID1>,<ID2>,<ID3>&retmode=json

EFetch (for full abstract):

https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=pubmed&id=<ID1>,<ID2>,<ID3>&rettype=abstract&retmode=text

Step 3: Parse and Present Results

From ESummary JSON response, extract:

```
title
```
- Article title
```
authors
```
- List of authors (use first author + "et al." for brevity)
```
pubdate
```
- Publication date
```
source
```
- Journal name
```
uid
```
- PubMed ID (PMID)

Complete Example Workflow

Search for meta-analyses on "hypertension treatment":

https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esearch.fcgi?db=pubmed&term=hypertension+treatment+AND+meta-analysis[pt]&retmax=10&retmode=json

Get details for returned IDs (e.g., 12345678,23456789):

https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esummary.fcgi?db=pubmed&id=12345678,23456789&retmode=json

Get full abstracts:

https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=pubmed&id=12345678,23456789&rettype=abstract&retmode=text

Search Tips

Effective Search Terms

Use MeSH terms when possible (e.g.,
```
"Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2"[Mesh]
```
)
Combine terms with
```
AND
```
or
```
OR
```
Use quotes for exact phrases:
```
"cognitive behavioral therapy"
```

Common Filters

Filter	Description
`meta-analysis[pt]`	Meta-analyses only
`systematic+review[pt]`	Systematic reviews only
`review[pt]`	All review articles
`free+full+text[filter]`	Only free full-text articles
`humans[mh]`	Human studies only
`english[la]`	English language only

Date Filtering

Add date range to search:

```
2020:2024[dp]
```
- Publication date range
```
"last 5 years"[dp]
```
- Relative date

Example with date filter:

term=cancer+immunotherapy+AND+meta-analysis[pt]+AND+2020:2024[dp]

Output Format

When presenting results, use this format:

### Meta-Analyses Found: [N] results

1. **[Title]**
   - Authors: [First Author] et al.
   - Journal: [Journal Name], [Year]
   - PMID: [ID] | Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/[ID]/

2. **[Title]**
   ...

Rate Limits

NCBI allows ~3 requests per second - be mindful of this when making multiple searches
Always URL-encode search terms with special characters