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Creating Your Own Search For Clinical Trials


Our search screen is designed to help you locate HIV/AIDS-related clinical trials in ClinicalTrials.gov  -- a database maintained by the National Library of Medicine. ClinicalTrials.gov  contains both Federally-funded and pharmaceutical company-funded clinical trials for a wide range of diseases. (For more information about ClinicalTrials.gov click here.)

Using our search screen, each search you enter is automatically limited to trials studying HIV/AIDS. If you are looking for trials that have nothing to do with HIV or AIDS, please proceed to the ClinicalTrials.gov  search screen by clicking here.

Here are some field-by-field hints for using our screen:

That contain the word(s):

In this box, you can use any word or combination of words. You can use one of the following operators to narrow or expand your search. Please note that AND, OR, and NOT must be in all upper case.

AND - limits your search by requiring both terms. For example, a search of "hepatitis AND zidovudine" will retrieve HIV/AIDS trial records that mention hepatitis and use the drug zidovudine.

OR - expands your search by looking for either term or both terms. For example, a search of "hepatitis OR tuberculosis" will retrieve HIV/AIDS trial records that mention hepatitis only, tuberculosis only, and trials mentioning both hepatitis and tuberculosis.

NOT - limits your search by eliminating trials that contain a term. For example, a search of "hepatitis NOT zidovudine" will retrieve HIV/AIDS trial records that mention hepatitis but do not use the drug zidovudine.

Place quotation marks (". . .") around words to search for an exact phrase. Use quotation marks sparingly as they might eliminate relevant records.

That include the condition:

Select one of the conditions listed in the drop-down box. This list contains opportunistic infections (OIs), diseases, and conditions commonly associated or co-occurring with HIV and AIDS. This list is not exhaustive. If you are looking for a condition that is not on this list (e.g., diabetes), please type it into the "That contain the word(s)" box above.

That use the drug:

Type in the name of a drug here. Try to use the generic name because the brand name is often not listed in a ClinicalTrials.gov  record. If you do not know the generic name, you can use a brand name to search the AIDSDRUGS database and find the generic name.

About Location Searches:

When searching by location, please be aware of the following types of trial records:
  • Trials with unspecified locations: some organizations, particularly pharmaceutical companies, list only a central contact telephone number rather than each of their individual site locations. These records will not be retrieved in a location search.
  • Trials at the NIH Clinical Center: trials conducted by the National Institutes of Health on their main campus in Bethesda, MD, are often open to participants from throughout the United States. Please call the Clinical Center’s Patient Recruitment and Public Liaison Office (PRPL) at 1-800-411-1222 for details. To search for Clinical Center trials, type Bethesda in the city name.

City:

Type in a city name (e.g., Cleveland). The database does not know what locations may be near the city you enter, so you might want to search for several surrounding city/town names or search by State.

State:

Select a State abbreviation (e.g., NY).

Country:

Enter the name of a country (e.g., Thailand); do not abbreviate (e.g., "United Kingdom" not "UK").

Child and adolescent trials:

Click this box to limit trials to those looking at HIV/AIDS in children or teenagers, approximately ages 0-17.

Trials looking for HIV-negative volunteers:

Click this box to limit trials to those recruiting volunteers who are not infected with the HIV virus.