This article discussed the development and current situation about both national and international diagnostic practice guidelines, as well as the role of evidence based medicine and systematic reviews in the development of such guidelines. Authors also analyzed the opportunities and challenges developers faced, and the methods and processes of development. Finally, authors proposed several strategic suggestions about how to improve the quality of diagnostic practice guideline in China.
Objective To analyze the methodological quality of clinical practice guideline mentioned “evidence-based” in China. Methods We selected clinical guidelines developed based on evidence issued by the Chinese Medical Association in 2010-2012, and meanwhile, we conducted additional search for guidelines on clinical major diseases. Then, we selected literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and evaluated the included guidelines according to 8 items relevant to methodological rigor which were selected from the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE II). If the guidelines comply with the item, we recorded 1 point, otherwise 0 point. Results a) Among twenty-two included guidelines, 13 were originated and 9 were updated once every 3 to 5 years. b) Diseases covered stroke, diabetes, chronic hepatitis B, hypertension, pediatric nutrition, etc. c) The number of guideline references were 10 to 218, of which, nine guidelines cited 24 Cochrane systematic reviews (CDSRs), accounted for 2.62% (24/916). Among them, the acute ischemic stroke guideline cited the most (7 CDSRs). d) The number of experts involved in guidelines development was 2 to 95 and guidelines pages were 4 to 150. e) The guidelines’ quality generally scored 4 to 7, most of which described the process of guidelines development. The grades of recommendation were consistent with the levels of evidence. But most of the included guidelines did not clearly described literature research methods, peer reviewer, and update procedures. Conclusion There is a growing trend that clinical guidelines are developed based on evidence in China. However, the quality of reporting and the methodological rigor of guidelines need further improvement. The citation rates of Cochrane systematic reviews in these guidelines were relatively low. We suggest that guideline recommendations should be consistent with the levels of evidence and adapt to local conditions, and relevant support policies for guideline implementation in practice. In future, attention should be paid to the aspects of guideline development methods, reporting standard, guideline accessibility, and standard training for relevant personnel.
ObjectiveTo systematically review quality of evidence-based pneumocystosis guidelines for children, compare the differences and similarities among recommendations, and to provide references for clinical application. MethodsDatabases such as TRIP, PubMed, CNKI, VIP, WanFang Data, CBM, U.S National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC), and Guidelines International Network (GIN) were searched to collect evidence-based guidelines on medication therapy for children with pneumocystosis. Methodological quality of included guidelines was evaluated according to the AGREE Ⅲ instrument, and the differences and similarities among recommendations were compared. ResultsA total of 3 evidence-based guidelines concerning children with pneumocystosis were included, of which, 2 were made by the USA and 1 by international academic organizations. Only 1 guideline was especially suitable for children, while others were for children of different ages and adults. The results of AGREE Ⅲ scoring showed that, among 6 domains which were rated using the AGREE Ⅲ instrument, "scope and purpose", "stakeholder involvement", "rigor of development", "clarity and presentation" and "editorial independence" were scored more than 60%; while "applicability" was only scored 46%, 25% and 31%. Besides, the grading of evidence and grading of recommendations were different. The medication recommendations of different guidelines were not the same. ConclusionThe quality of 3 guidelines is not high, and the grading of evidence and the strength of recommendation are still needed to be unified. The target population and the recommendations in the guidelines are different.
ObjectivesTo evaluate the quality of evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence, so as to provide evidence for clinical stress urinary incontinence management research.MethodsWebsite of the professional society, clinical practice guide website, Yimaitong website, PubMed, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP databases were electronically searched to collect stress urinary incontinence management related guidelines from January 1st, 2014 to January 1st, 2019. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and evaluated the quality of included guidelines using Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE Ⅱ) and the characteristics of each guidelines were analyzed.ResultsWe identified totally 8 relevant evidence-based guidelines in this field. The average standardized scores in the 6 domains of AGREE II were 90.74% (scope and purpose), 78.71% (stakeholder involvement), 74.60% (rigor of development), 93.52% (clarity of presentations), 61.81% (applicability), and 91.67% (independence). The overall standardized scores of 8 guidelines were 77.70%, and the total scores were 5.31 (out of 7). For overall quality, 4 of them were grade A and 4 of them were grade B.ConclusionsThe overall quality of evidence-based guidelines for stress urinary incontinence is high, and scores in different fields are vary large. Fields of " stakeholder involvement”, " rigor of development” and " applicability” with lower scores still requires strengthening. The current guidelines for female stress urinary incontinence in China still fails to meet the standards of evidence-based guidelines, so the quality of the guidelines should be improved to improve guide clinical practice.
Evidence grading and recommendation strength assessment are key steps in the development of evidence-based guidelines, and have made significant progress in recent years. This article systematically reviews the development and evolution of evidence grading and recommendation strength in the past 30 years, and introduces the main representative standards. At the same time, a brief introduction is given to the guidelines and consensus evaluation results published in the field of neurological diseases in China, and future improvements are proposed. This article aims to help readers understand the development patterns of evidence grading and recommendation strength, in order to better understand the guidelines, and to develop more standardized guidelines.
Objective To investigate and analyze the status of clinical guidelines of children in China, so as to regulate the development of children’s evidence-based clinical guidelines and provide recommendations for children’s clinical guidelines. Methods Names of guidelines, year and institution of publication, methodology of development and reference number were descriptively analyzed. Years of publication and diseases of guidelines were analyzed with statistical graphs. AGREE instrument was used to evaluate the evidence-based guidelines of children. Results a) Of 91 clinical guidelines of children, 62 were translations. Of 29 guidelines ourselves, nine were traditional Chinese medicine guidelines and five (17%) were evidence-based guidelines; b) Guideline on Rational Use of Antibiotics in Acute Respiratory Infections (Probation), the first guideline of children, was published in 1999. Guidelines of children was not published until 2005. Then, the number of guidelines was increasing each year and reached a peak in 2008. Of 13 guidelines in 2008, seven were traditional Chinese medicine guidelines. Guidelines on respiratory diseases were 14 ranked as the top; c) Guidelines on congenital deformity and chromosomal abnormalities, tumor, circulatory system disease, blood disease and western guideline on communicable disease were not formulated in China; and d) Average scores on six domain of five evidence-based guidelines were 84.4%, 37.5%, 74.3%, 90.0%, 22.2%, 46.6%, respectively. Guide on Diagnosis and Treatment of Children Aged 0 to 5 with Acute Fever of Unknown Etiology was bly recommended, Guide on Management of Children with Community-Acquired Pneumonia, Evidence-Based Guide on Diagnosis and Treatment of Children with Common Kidney Disease, Guide on Nutrition Support of Newborn, Guide on Diagnosis and Treatment of Children with Chronic Cough were recommended. Conclusion Clinical guidelines of children in China begin late, develop slowly and are lack of update. A standard on development of guidelines is needed. The government should increase the fund of development, implementation and promotion of guidelines. Recommendations for high-quality guidelines should be included in procedure of medical quality assurance. Compliance of guidelines should be provided by organization which formulatesd the guideline, so as to promote the application of high-quality guidelines.
ObjectiveChinese practice guideline for therapeutic drug monitoring of vancomycin is the first therapeutic drug monitoring guideline in the framework of GRADE in China. The guideline panels met a recommendation consensus in December 21th, 2014 and finalized 14 recommendations. The aim of the current study was to assess the property of recommendations and revise them. MethodsWe commissioned an external review of recommendations by questionnaire. Physicians, clinical pharmacists and nurses above or equal to intermediate certificate were investigated for appreciations, clarity and feasibility of 14 recommendations as well as other suggestions about guideline. The guideline panels discussed the results and revised recommendations based on the result of external review. ResultsA total of 40 physicians, clinical pharmacist and nurses from 11 departments of 4 hospitals participated in the external review. The overall appreciation degree of recommendations was 70%, the overall clarity degree of recommendations was 88%, and the overall feasibility degree of recommendations was 70%. Among them, appreciation degree of 4 recommendations and feasibility degree of 5 recommendations were fewer than 50%. 165 subjective suggestions were received. After review of the results, the guideline panels reserved 6 recommendations while revised 8 (Deleted 4, combined 2 and improved 2). ConclusionOur external review is an exploration and attempt in the region of development of Chinese evidence-based practice guideline. More interest-related individuals are involved in the development of guideline. Clarity and feasibility of recommendations are ensured.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the quality, status of clinical practice guidelines on stomatology in China and discuss existing problems, so as to provide references for developing evidence-based guidelines. MethodsComprehensive search was conducted up to January 2014 for relevant clinical practice guidelines on stomatology, and the retrieval date was January 30th, 2014. After data extraction from eligibility guidelines, the quality was evaluated using the AGREE Ⅱ instrument and then descriptive analysis was performed. ResultsFinally a total of 18 guidelines were included, of which, 13 were for oral and maxillofacial surgery diseases. Based on the AGREE Ⅱ instrument, the average scores on the six domains were as follows:71.1% for scope and purpose, 40.1% for stakeholder involvement, 28.8% for rigor of development, 71.5% for clarity of presentation, 42.6% for applicability, and 8.6% for editorial independence. ConclusionThe overall quality of clinical practice guidelines on stomatology in China is relatively poor, only a few diseases are concerned, and no evidence-based guideline has been developed so far. However, considered the limitations of this study, the results of this study is only for a reference.
In this article, three research cases are introduced to show the rationale of analysis of papers cited in evidence-based guidelines and the implementation steps. The ultimate goal of medical research is to promote health; evidence-based guidelines are of most importance to medical practice, which can be directly used in clinical practice and health prevention. One of the ways in which research can influence practice is through its contribution to being references of guidelines, and it’s a new way to evaluate biomedical research’s “payback” on health.
ObjectiveTo systematically assess the quality of evidence-based clinical guidelines on the treatment of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis and to compare the differences and similarities between recommendations, so as to provide references for clinical application. MethodsDatabases such as the TRIP, PubMed, CNKI, VIP, WanFang Data, CBM, U.S National Guideline Clearinghouse and Guidelines International Network were searched to collect evidencebased guidelines on medication therapy for children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Methodological quality of included guidelines was assessed according to the AGREE Ⅲ instrument, and differences and similarities among recommendations were compared. ResultsTwo evidence-based clinical guidelines from Australia and China were included. Among 6 domains of the Australian guideline which were rated using AGREE Ⅲ instrument, "scope and purpose", "stakeholder involvement", "rigor of development", "clarity and presentation", "applicability" and "editorial independence" were scored more than 50%. As for Chinese guideline, "scope and purpose", "stakeholder involvement", "rigor of development", "clarity and presentation" and "editorial independence" was all scored more than 50%, but "applicability" was scored less than 50%. ConclusionThe included guidelines are of high quality and strongly recommended, but the recommendations might exist limitation for Chinese children. Thus, the development of relevant Chinese evidence-based guidelines are urgently needed.