An appraisal of clinical practice guidelines for constipation: a right attitude towards to guidelines.

Hongliang Tian,Qiyi Chen,Lili Gu,Lynne V Mcfarland,Jieshou Li,Jianfeng Gong,Chao Ding,Chunlian Ma,Xiaolong Ge,Ning Li,Weiming Zhu

doi:10.1186/s12876-016-0466-8

Abstract

BackgroundClinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are formally developed statements that assist users to provide proper health care for a kind of disease and play a significant contribution in healthcare system. This study report the methodological quality of CPGs on constipation.MethodsThe “Appraisal of Guidelines and Research and Evaluation” (AGREEII) instrument was developed to determine the quality of CPGs. A comprehensive search was developed using five databases and three guideline websites until/up to December, 2015. Four independent authors evaluated the methodological issues of the CPGs by the AGREEII instrument.ResultsWe identified 22 relevant guidelines on constipation from 1234 citations. The overall agreement among evaluators was 0.84 using the intra-class correlation coefficient. The mean AGREEII scores for the domains “scope and purpose” (51.77) and “rigor of development” (56.73) were moderate; afterward, three domains “stakeholder involvement” (32.23), “editorial independence” (29.59) and “applicability” (29.14) were low scores. The “clarity and presentation” (23.73) had the lowest scores.ConclusionAlthough existing constipation guidelines may accurately reflect current clinical practices, many guidelines’ methodological quality is low. Therefore, more emphasis and attentions should be taken to the development of high-quality guidelines.

Highlights

Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are formally developed statements that assist users to provide proper health care for a kind of disease and play a significant contribution in healthcare system
During the last two decade there were more than 20 developed clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) to manage the constipation
Quality appraisal and recommendation We evaluated the twenty-two included CPGs quality by AGREEII instrument [6]

Summary

Introduction

Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are formally developed statements that assist users to provide proper health care for a kind of disease and play a significant contribution in healthcare system. This study report the methodological quality of CPGs on constipation. Constipation is a disorder defined by incomplete defecation, and/or infrequent bowel movements which associated with persistent difficult and/or painful defecation, fecal incontinence, and abdominal pain [1]. It is a common clinical functional diseases. During the last two decade there were more than 20 developed clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) to manage the constipation. The main role of the CPGs is to give clear recommendations to help clinicians make appropriate clinical decision for specific clinical circumstance [4, 5]

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