Quality assessment and content analysis of existing clinical practice guidelines for the prevention of venous thromboembolism in orthopedic patients

Abstract:

Objective：To perform quality assessment and content analysis of clinical practice guidelines for the prevention of venous thromboembolism（VTE） in orthopedic patients issued in China and foreign countries，and to provide a basis for developing standardized prevention plans for orthopedic patients. Methods：Websites and databases of related networks and organizations were searched for related guidelines，and these guidelines were screened according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Appraisal of Guidelines for Re－search and Evaluation Ⅱ（AGREE Ⅱ） was used to evaluate the quality of the guidelines included in this study，and the features of each guideline were analyzed. Results：A total of 8 English guidelines and 1 Chinese guideline concerning the prevention of VTE in ortho－pedic patients were included. According to AGREE Ⅱ，the domain of clarity of presentations had the highest mean score（74.07%），followed by scope and purpose（70.06%），stakeholder involvement（54.94%），rigor of development（41.67%），applicability（40.97%），and editorial independence（40.28%）. The contents of these guidelines involved risk screening，risk warning，prevention strategies，knowledge training. and knowledge translation. Conclusion：The guidelines for VTE prevention in orthopedic patients have fair quality，and their rigor of development，editorial independence，and applicability remain to be improved. VTE prevention in China starts late and there is still a lack of high-quality evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.