On Doctoring MEDLINE searches, with reference librarian comments, March 2000

The question was

What are the risk factors for developing Parkinson's disease?

1     Parkinson disease/pc and Parkinson disease/et [Prevention &    results=13   
Control, Etiology]

Reference Librarian comments

I tried that search a different way, see below. Usually you should "explode" the subject headings. I think you got a low retrieval because you "ANDed" the two Parkinson disease options in your strategy.

Thanks for participating in the exercise.

Medline 1991 to January 2000

#
Search History
Results
1
exp *Parkinson disease/
7556
2
exp risk factors/
113353
3
1 and 2
230
4
limit 3 to (human and english language and review articles)
29
5
from 4 keep 10
1

<1>
AN 98088305
AU Ben-Shlomo Y.
IN Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, UK.
TI The epidemiology of Parkinson's disease.
[Review] [85 refs]
SO Baillieres Clinical Neurology. 6(1):55-68, 1997 Apr.
LM Not at Dartmouth/DHMClibraries;request on interlibrary loan.
AB Epidemiological research has confirmed that Parkinson's
disease (PD) is found throughout the world and increases
exponentially with age. Few good-quality data on the temporal incidence of PD
are available, although both mortality and incidence data suggest that the
disease may be less common today in younger age groups.
Differences in prevalence between identical ethnic groups in different
countries support the role of an environmental factor. Any postulated factor
must be found commonly in developed countries, among which there appears to
be little difference in incidence or prevalence rates. A wide variety of
aetiological agents have been considered from infectious, toxic and other
exposures. The most robust finding is that non-smokers have a greater
risk of disease, although the reason for
this is unclear and may relate to differences in pre-morbid personality.
Pesticides and head injuries also show consistently elevated
risk but are prone to biased measurement. Dietary
anti-oxidants require further evaluation. Future research needs to improve on
current limited methods of exposure measurement and to attempt more novel
designs to overcome bias. More attention should be made on examining what
factors determine prognosis and using epidemiological and
qualitative methods to determine the needs of patients with PD. [References:
85]