Search ClinicalTrials.gov by condition, filter the results by recruitment status and study type, then search the WHO ICTRP portal to capture registrations from other participating registries before screening each record for eligibility. ClinicalTrials.gov lets you filter records by condition, intervention, location, status, study type, dates, and other study fields, so you can narrow a broad condition search to the trial designs and statuses your synthesis needs.
- Run a condition search on ClinicalTrials.gov and record the exact query and filters you used. Expected result: a reproducible result set you can re-run later.
- Apply filters for recruitment status and study type. Expected result: the set matches the statuses and designs your synthesis question covers, and you can state which statuses you excluded.
- Search the WHO ICTRP portal for the same condition. The portal provides a single access point for records supplied by participating registries, so it can surface registrations that are not in ClinicalTrials.gov. Expected result: a second result set to compare against the first.
- Screen every record against your eligibility criteria using the structured fields for study identification, status, design, eligibility, locations, outcomes, and reported results. Expected result: each record is marked include, exclude, or unresolved, with the reason recorded.
- For records marked unresolved, check the registration entry directly before deciding. Expected result: a documented decision or a clearly flagged gap in the included set.
Keep the ClinicalTrials.gov and ICTRP searches as separate result sets until screening, so you can see which registry supplied each record. Report the registries searched, the filters applied, and the screening decisions alongside the synthesis, because a record's presence in one registry does not establish that it is absent from another.