Using Embase in Evidence Based Dentistry

at The University of Adelaide

Embase is a database with more than 24 million citations from over 7,500 current, mostly peer reviewed, journals.

Access to Embase is through The Catalogue, Summon, the Dentistry LibGuide, or from the link below.

Embase
Right click on this link then open in a new window or new tab.

We will search for articles on the association of Interleukin 1 with periodontitis in children and infants

All Embase citations include subject headings.
Subject headings in Embase are called Emtree.

Click on Emtree in the blue bar near the top of the Embase screen.

Type in what you think might be a subject heading eg interleukin 1.
When searching for Emtree it's usually best to use a common term found in the literature that describes a single concept you are looking for.
Click on the Find Term button.

Emtree will usually ask you to click on a link to go to the preferred term.

Like MeSH, Emtree terms come in hierarchies.
Emtree shows you how many citations you can expect to find if you search the term.

Scroll down the screen to find when the term was first added to Emtree, a list of synonyms, and sometimes a definition.

Explosion in Embase
Click on cytokine jsut above interleukin 1 in the Emtree hierarchy.

As in MeSH, Emtree can be exploded to find the selected term with all the more specific terms ORed to it.
An exploded search on cytokine will find citations with this Emtree OR all the other more specific Emtree.

In a logic grid you could enter this as cytokine/exp.

To search a phrase such as inteleukin 1 in Embase (but not when you are looking for the term in Emtree) it must be enclosed in single or double quotes.

'interleukin 1'

To search for this term as a descriptor (subject heading) you must also add :de
The colon : tells Embase that you have come to the end of the search term and you are about to tell it where in the citation to search.

'interleukin 1':de

You may also want to search for this term in titles or abstracts.
To do this just add ti,ab to the search term.
Commas are used to separate field tags.

'interleukin 1':de,ti,ab

This search term and its synonyms can go into the logic grid as

Note that in Embase you can't use truncation within quotes.
A search for

'interleukin 1*':de,ti,ab

produces an error message

Truncation
The * is the truncation symbol in Embase but it can be used only with single words, not in phrases.

It is possible to use Proximity Operators to use truncation in a string of terms. The search

(interleukin NEXT/1 1*):ti,ab

will find all instances where interleukin appears in the title or abstract of a citation and where the next term is 1, or 12, or 1alpha etc.

The number after NEXT/ can be changed

eg (sleep NEXT/3 apn*):ti,ab could include sleep patients with apnea, or Sleep staging and apnea detection, or Sleep perception, age, apnea-hypoapnea index
as well as finding sleep apnoea etc.

Your experience of the terms used in the literature will determine what number should come after NEXT and determine the number of words between the first search term and the last.

Other Variations with Proximity Operators
As well as NEXT/ you can use NEAR.

NEAR finds terms that can be in any order

eg (oral NEAR/2 device*):ti,ab might find electronic intra-oral removable device, or disposable devices for oral hygiene

 

Phrases, Proximity Operators and Truncation
We can use phrases as well as proximity operators and truncation as long as there is no truncation of a phrase.

('third molar' NEXT/3 extraction*):ti,ab might find third molar root during extraction, or third molar surgical extractions

Whenever you use a proximity operator you'll have to enclose the search terms in round brackets!

Logic Grid
This grid includes the main concepts as subject headings (some include explosions), and the synonyms.

('interleukin 1':de,ti,ab OR 'il 1':ti,ab ) AND (periodontitis/exp OR periodontitis:ti,ab OR gingivitis:ti,ab OR 'gingival inflammation':ab,ti) AND (child/exp OR child*ti,ab OR infant*:ti,ab OR boy*:ti,ab OR girl*:ti,ab)

Open Embase (the searching bit)

You can use Quick Search or Advanced.
Advanced offers some evidence based practice options.

Enter your search but before clicking on the Search button look at the area below the search box.

I suggest that you remove the tick in the box to the left of Map to prerred terminology
If you keep this tick in the box Embase will try to find Emtree for your search terms but you've done this already.

Further down the screen is the area where you can adjust the years searched and other limits.
I suggest that you retain the search of MEDLINE (PubMed citations with MeSH added) and remove any duplicates with your PubMed search later.

Further down the screen there are Advanced Limits where you can chose to limit by some evidence based practice parameters.

Click in the boxes to the left of each type of article you want to collect. You can click in as many as you like, the different study types will be ORed together.

Click on the Search button to run your search.

From the results screen you can print, export or add citations to a clipboard.
You can sort by 'relevance' publication year or the date the citation was entered in Embase.
The Embase citation includes title, authors, full journal title and publication details, citing details, which databases (Embase and or PubMed) supplied the citation, and links to the abstract, indexing, and full text if we have access.

Export
To export citations to EndNote (or other bibliographic data management system) first select the citations to be exported by clicking in the boxes to the left of the titles.

You can export straight away or add the selected citations to the Embase clipboard.

You can do several searches and continue to add citations to the Clipboard.
You can then export from the Clipboard.

Notice that Embase is a citation index.
You can check whether there are articles that cite individual articles found by your search.
Click on the Cited by link.

This will take you to the Scopus database in a new tab.
Click in the boxes for the article you want to keep.

Click on Add to My List on the grey bar above the citing article records.

When you have finished selecting citing references click on My List.

Click in the All box, then on the Export link to add these citing refs to EndNote.

Email Alerts
Before you can set up an email alert you have to register in Embase.

Click on the link in the top right of the Embase screen.

Once the registration is completed and you are logged in,
place your cursor over the search you want to use for the alert.
An option for email alert will appear.
Click on this.

Evidence Based Dentistry Introduction