Author response: Practice guideline update recommendations summary: Disorders of consciousness: Report of the Guideline Development, Dissemination, and Implementation Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology; the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine; and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research.

Abstract

American Academy of Neurology (AAN) guidelines comply with the AAN Institute Board-approved guideline methodology referenced within the systematic review/guideline.1,2 Compliance is ensured by a methodologist working on each project and multiple rounds of AAN Guideline Development, Dissemination, and Implementation Subcommittee review. We believe that Phan et al. are referencing the 2004 recommendation methodology.3 The disorders of consciousness guideline used the 2011 AAN guideline manual, as amended,4 based on 2011 Institute of Medicine (IOM) standards for evidence-based guidelines.