Search filters for systematic reviews and meta-analyses in sleep medicine

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are increasingly common in sleep research, although the methodological quality level has been a matter of concern. Efforts towards methodological standardization are needed to ensure the reliability of sleep-related systematic reviews. The development of search strategies is a critical step in a systematic review, which often lead to methodological biases. Standardized search filters have been used to facilitate the development of search strategies. However, such filters have not been developed for sleep medicine. The current study aimed at developing a list of PubMed search filters related to sleep medicine, including specific search strategies for different sleep disorders and sleep conditions. First, a list of sleep disorders and conditions was created for which search filters would be developed. This included most conditions listed in the International Classification of Sleep Disorders – 3rd edition. Additional search filters were developed for proposed disorders not recognized as independent clinical entities, and for other sleep-related conditions. All search strategies were designed specifically for PubMed, by combining relevant MeSH terms and free terms. Nine fully independent and unrelated MeSH terms related to sleep were identified. In total, 91 search filters were developed, related to 71 different sleep-related conditions. With the current work, we aimed to provide a list of reliable search filters organized to cover the field in a broad manner, therefore being useful for different types of systematic reviews within sleep medicine, ranging from narrow-focused meta-analyses to broader scoping reviews, mapping reviews, and meta-epidemiological studies.