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Table 1 Defined search strategy for the extraction of pertinent studies from multiple databases

From: The effectiveness of opioid substitution treatments for patients with opioid dependence: a systematic review and multiple treatment comparison protocol

CINAHL search strategy search = ___

1. (MH ‘methadone+’)

2. (MH ‘suboxone+’)

3. (MH ‘heroin assisted treatment+’)

4. (MH ‘diacetylmorphine+’)

5. (MH ‘heroin adjusted therapy+’)

6. (MH ‘buprenorphine+’)

7. (MH ‘Revia+’)

8. (MH ‘Depade+’)

9. (MH ‘Naltrexone+’)

10. 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 or 9

11. (MH ‘disorder, substance abuse’) or (MH ‘substance withdrawal syndrome+’) or (MH ‘substitute opioid therapy+’)

12. 10 AND 11

Medline search strategy search = ____

1. methadone/th [Therapy]

2. limit 1 to humans

3. opioid substitution treatment/ae mo [adverse effects, mortality]

4. limit 3 to humans

5. substance-Related Disorders/de, ep, th [Drug Effects, Epidemiology, Therapy]

6. Limit 5 to humans

7. Opiate Substitution Treatment/or Naloxone/or Buprenorphine/or Opioid-Related Disorders/or Heroin Dependence/or Substance Withdrawal Syndrome/or Narcotic Antagonists/

8. Limit 7 to humans

9. Naltrexone/ae, ag, ai, tu [Adverse Effects, Agonists, Antagonists & Inhibitors, Therapeutic Use]

10. Limit 9 to humans

11. Substance Abuse Treatment Centers/or Substance Abuse, Intravenous/or Heroin/or Heroin Dependence/or Opioid-Related Disorders/or Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic/or Methadone/

12. Limit 11 to humans

13. methadone/

14. limit 13 to humans

15. 2 OR 4 OR 8 OR 10 OR 12 OR 14

16. 15 AND 6

Web of science search strategy search = _____

1. Topic = (‘methadone’ OR ‘methadone maintenance therapy’ OR ‘naltrexone’ OR ‘suboxone’ OR ‘buprenorphine’ OR ‘heroin assisted treatment’)

2. Topic = (‘substitute opioid therapy’ OR ‘opioid substitution therapy’)

3. 1 AND 2

EMBASE search strategy Search = ___

1. methadone treatment/or methadone/or methadone plus naloxone/

2. limit 1 to human

3. buprenorphine plus naloxone/

4. limit 3 to human

5. morphine sulfate plus naltrexone/or naltrexone/

6. limit 5 to human

7. opiate addiction/or heroin dependence/or methadone/or diamorphine/

8. limit 7 to human

9. opiate substitution treatment/ae [Adverse Drug Reaction]

10. methadone/or buprenorphine/or opiate addiction/or substitute opioid therapy.mp.

11. 9 or 10

12. 2 or 4 or 6 or 8

13. 11 and 12

14. substance abuse/or addiction/or drug dependence/

15. 13 and 14

16. randomized controlled trial/

17. 15 and 16

PsycINFO search strategy search = _____

1. exp Methadone Maintenance/or exp Methadone/

2. limit 1 to human

3. exp Treatment Outcomes/or exp Drug Therapy/or exp Methadone Maintenance/or exp Drug Dependency/or exp Maintenance Therapy/or exp Methadone/or exp Heroin/

4. limit 3 to human

5. exp Drug Addiction/or exp Clinics/or exp Drug Therapy/or exp Drug Dependency/or exp ‘Recovery (Disorders)’/or exp Maintenance Therapy/

6. limit 5 to humans

7. exp naltrexone/

8. limit 7 to humans

9. exp Maintenance Therapy/or exp Naloxone/or exp Drug Therapy/or exp Drug Dependency/or exp Heroin Addiction/

10. limit 7 to humans

11. exp Treatment Outcomes/or exp Clinical Trials/or exp Drug Therapy/or exp Heroin Addiction/or exp Methadone Maintenance/

12. limit 9 to humans

13. 2 and 8 and 10

14. 2 and 10

15. 2 and 12

16. 2 and 6 and 12

17. 13 or 14 or 15 or 16

Cochrane library search strategy search = __

1. search title, abstract, keywords: methadone

2. search title, abstract, keywords: buprenorphine

3. search title, abstract, keywords: naltrexone

4. search title, abstract, keywords: heroin assisted treatment

Clinical Trials Registry through National Institutes for Health search strategy Search = ____

‘methadone’ OR ‘suboxone’ OR ‘Buprenorphine’ OR ‘substitute opioid therapy’ OR ‘naltrexone’ OR ‘heroin assisted treatment’ OR ‘heroin adjustment therapy’ AND ‘opioid addiction’, with additional criteria including: Completed studies, exclude unknown status, adult age requirements, and all trials had to be listed as Phase 3, 4

Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials search strategy Search = ____

‘substitute opioid therapy’ OR ‘methadone’ OR ‘naltrexone’ OR ‘buprenorphine’ OR ‘heroin assisted treatment’ OR ‘heroin adjustment therapy’ in title abstract keywords and opioid addiction in title abstract keywords in Trials