Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®) in MEDLINE®/PubMed®: A Tutorial
Content
Searching PubMed Using MeSH Search Tags
Subheadings [SH]
- A list of subheadings can be found in PubMed's Help.
- Definitions for the subheadings (also called qualifiers) can be found on the MeSH Web site.
- MeSH specialists and indexers determine which subheadings may be used in combination with each MeSH heading. These combinations may change over time.
- For searching, attach subheadings to MeSH headings using the format: MeSH heading/subheading.
- Two-letter abbreviations for subheadings or the full subheading name may be used.
Examples:
thromboembolism/pc [mh]
thromboembolism/prevention and control [mh]
toes/in [majr]
toes/injuries [majr]
Only one subheading may be attached to a MeSH heading at a time. To attach multiple subheadings, combine each MeSH/subheading combination with the OR Boolean operator or use the MeSH Database, which allows multiple subheadings to be selected.
Example:
To search for citations where the main topics are about the prevention and control or diagnosis of thromboembolism, enter:
thromboembolism/pc [majr] OR thromboembolism/di [majr]
For a MeSH/subheading combination, PubMed always explodes the MeSH term and also searches the subheading and its grouping if there is one. You cannot explode a MeSH heading and not also explode the attached subheading.
Example:
polysaccharides/ae
Retrieves citations indexed with any of the polysaccharides with any of these subheadings:
ae (adverse effects)
po (poisoning)
to (toxicity)
Note: polysaccharides/ae [mh:noexp] turns off both the MeSH heading explosion and the subheading explosion.