OBJECTIVES: Both the international HTA database, hosted by the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA), and the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) database, hosted by University of York, were originally intended to provide a single point of access to guidance from leading HTA agencies. This research aims to determine the coverage of the INAHTA and CRD HTA databases by comparing searches for NICE technology assessment (TA) guidance in these databases to the availability of guidance on the NICE website.

METHODS: TA guidance was downloaded from the NICE website into MS Excel. Titles were ordered randomly. The top 20 titles were used as cases for analysis. Title field searches were conducted within the INAHTA and CRD HTA databases using both full titles and intervention terms obtained from the selected NICE TAs. The outcome of interest was identification of NICE TA guidance indexed appropriately in either the INAHTA or CRD HTA databases. The CRD HTA database has not been updated since March 2018, which was accounted for in the final analysis.

RESULTS: Coverage across the 20 cases was incomplete in both databases. In the INAHTA database, 15 of 20 (75%) TAs were not identified via full title or intervention-specific searches. In the CRD HTA database, 8 of 13 (62%) records that were published prior to the last update of the database were not identified.

CONCLUSIONS: Coverage of NICE TAs in the INAHTA and CRD HTA databases was incomplete. Researchers needing to identify NICE TAs should execute searches directly on the NICE website.