English database

・ Age Line (1978-March 2012).

・ CINAHL Plus with Full Text (1937-March 2012).

・ Cochrane Library (1966-March 2012).

・ MEDLINE (1966-March 2012).

・ OVID (1966-March 2012).

・ ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health Source (1986-March 2012).

・ ProQuest Health & Medical Complete (1994-March 2012).

・ PubMed (1966-March 2012).

・ Science Direct (1995-March 2012).

・ Springer Link (1990-March 2012).

Chinese database (Traditional)

・ Chinese Electronic Periodical Services (CEPS) (1991-March 2012).

・ Nation Central Library (NCL) (1970-March 2012).

・ National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) (1956-March 2012).

Chinese database (Simplified)

・ China Doctor Dissertation Full-text Database (CDFD) (1999-March 2012).

・ China Master Theses Full-text Database (CMTD) (1999-March 2012).

・ China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) (1979-March 2012).

・ China Yearbook Full-text Database (CYFD) (1912-March 2012).

・ Wan Fang Data (1997-March 2012).

Website

・ Google Scholar.

Search terms used

・ Buerger’s exercises, Buerger-Allen exercises, Buerger.

・ Used different terms in Chinese traditional text for Buerger’s exercises.

・ Used different terms in Chinese simplified text for Buerger’s exercises.