A systematic review aims to include all relevant studies. Increasing the comprehensiveness (or sensitivity) of a search will reduce its precision and will retrieve more irrelevant articles. Recall (sensitivity) is defined as the number of relevant reports identified divided by the total number of relevant reports in existence. Precision (specificity) is defined as the number of relevant reports identified divided by the total number of reports identified. A thorough search takes time to develop and perform. Issues to consider in performing a comprehensive search:
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