Artikel
Factors associated with methodological rigor of clinical guidelines
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Veröffentlicht: | 10. Juli 2012 |
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Gliederung
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Background:Methodological quality is a reference standard for newly developed clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) and a critical determinant of its adaptation. Special attributes might be useful when conducting non-systematic searches of high quality CPGs.
Objectives:To explore the association between guideline attributes and methodological quality in a sample of cancer CPGs.
Methods:A systematic search of CPGs for prostate and colorectal cancer management was performed in databases and widely known developers’ websites. Guidelines published between 2006 and 2011 were included, and four independent reviewers evaluated its quality using the German guideline appraisal instrument DELBI. Using methodological rigor domain score as the outcome, a linear regression was performed to identify factors associated with quality.
Results:Ninety guidelines were included, 77 of colorectal cancer. English was the predominant language (84.4%). Most frequent countries of development were United States (30%), Canada (22%), and United Kingdom (13.3%). Most CPGs were made by governmental agencies (48.9%). Attributes associated with higher methodological rigor scores were conflicts of interest declaration, financial disclaimer, UK origin and governmental agency developer. The later three were independently related with quality.
Discussion:Preliminary results show that CPGs developed by agencies with structured standards have better methodological rigor appraisals. Other associated factors might be indirectly related with existing quality indicators, such as other DELBI domains. Inclusion of more guidelines to increase sample size and representativeness is in process. Due to great variability in quality of published GPCs, developers should consider additional quality markers when screening for relevant guidelines.