Quality assessment on clinical practice guidelines in appendicitis：a study based on AGREE Ⅱ

Abstract:

Objective：To investigate and analyze the current situation of global appendicitis clinical practice guidelines and to provide references for the development and formulation of our native appendicitis clinical guidelines normatively. Methods：Chinese and Eng－lish databases were searched，including MEDLINE，Embase，National Guideline Clearinghouse，Guidelines International Network，Na－tional Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence，WANFANG database，CNKI and CPGN（Chinese practice guideline network），and relative websites（from established to December 31，2015）. Then literature was selected according to the inclusion and exclusion cri－teria. Names of guidelines，years of publication，institutions，guideline develop methods and number of each references were descrip－tively analyzed. The internationally recognized guideline evaluation tool，appraisal of guidelines for research and evaluation（AGREE） was applied to assess the methodogical quality of guidelines. Results：①A total of 7 appendicitis guidelines were included. Publica－tion dated from 2007 to 2014. The topics of these guidelines cover screening，diagnosis，drug therapy and surgical therapy；guidelines included are all evidence-based guidelines. ②The average scores of six domains（scope and purpose，stakeholders involvement，rigor of development，clarity of presentation，applicability and editorial independence） involved in the included guidelines were 65.3%，38.63%，48.89%，78.3%，0.0%，14.29%，respectively. Conclusion：There is a growing trend that clinical practice guidelines are devel－oped based on evidence. However，the total quality of reporting and the methodological rigor of guidelines need further improvement.