Yuan Fang1, Liang Yao2, Jing Sun3, Jian Zhang3, Yanxia Li4, Ruifei Yang1, Kehu Yang5, Limin Tian6. 1. Department of Endocrinology, Gansu Provincial Hospital, Dong gang West Road, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, People's Republic of China. 2. Clinical Evidence based medicine center, Gansu Provincial Hospital, Dong gang West Road, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, People's Republic of China. 3. Department of Clinical Medicine, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, Ningxia, People's Republic of China. 4. Department of Ultrasonography, Hebei Province Veterans Hospital, Lianchi South Street, Baoding, 071000, Hebei, People's Republic of China. 5. Evidence-Based Medicine Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, People's Republic of China. kehuyangebm2006@126.com. 6. Department of Endocrinology, Gansu Provincial Hospital, Dong gang West Road, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, People's Republic of China. tlm6666@sina.com.
Abstract
PURPOSE: This study aimed to systematically evaluate the quality of guidelines for the management of hypothyroidism in pregnancy. METHOD: Systematic searches were conducted to identify hypothyroidism in pregnancy guidelines published in electronic databases and developers' websites. Four reviewers independently evaluated eligible guidelines using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE II) instrument. Agreement among reviewers was measured using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The number of recommendations, strength of recommendations, and levels of evidence were determined. The software used for analysis was SPSS version 12.0. RESULTS: Nine guidelines met the inclusion criteria and were appraised. The scope and purpose (65%) and clarity of presentation (70%) domains achieved relatively high scores, whereas the stakeholder involvement (41%), rigor of development (33%), applicability (36%), and editorial independence (31%) domains yielded low scores. The American Thyroid Association (ATA) guideline ranked the highest, whereas the 2012 Chinese Society of Endocrinology (CSE) guideline ranked the lowest among all the guidelines. The British Thyroid Association (BTA) and ATA guidelines were strongly recommended as dependable and helpful references to aid clinical decisions for medical providers, whereas the CSE guideline was not recommended. Most recommendations of the guidelines were relatively consistent. However, the nine guidelines varied with respect to their recommendations on thyroid scanning, dose of levothyroxine (L-T4) treatment, and target thyroid-stimulating hormone(TSH) level of L-T4 therapy. CONCLUSIONS: The quality of the guidelines on the management of hypothyroidism in pregnancy is highly variable. Additionally, these guidelines need significant improvement, especially in the rigor of development and applicability domains. Some improvements should be made to promote the development and implementation of guidelines, for example, conducting a comprehensive search strategy to include more potential evidence and establishing a standard grading system to evaluate the quality of evidence.
PURPOSE: This study aimed to systematically evaluate the quality of guidelines for the management of hypothyroidism in pregnancy. METHOD: Systematic searches were conducted to identify hypothyroidism in pregnancy guidelines published in electronic databases and developers' websites. Four reviewers independently evaluated eligible guidelines using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE II) instrument. Agreement among reviewers was measured using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The number of recommendations, strength of recommendations, and levels of evidence were determined. The software used for analysis was SPSS version 12.0. RESULTS: Nine guidelines met the inclusion criteria and were appraised. The scope and purpose (65%) and clarity of presentation (70%) domains achieved relatively high scores, whereas the stakeholder involvement (41%), rigor of development (33%), applicability (36%), and editorial independence (31%) domains yielded low scores. The American Thyroid Association (ATA) guideline ranked the highest, whereas the 2012 Chinese Society of Endocrinology (CSE) guideline ranked the lowest among all the guidelines. The British Thyroid Association (BTA) and ATA guidelines were strongly recommended as dependable and helpful references to aid clinical decisions for medical providers, whereas the CSE guideline was not recommended. Most recommendations of the guidelines were relatively consistent. However, the nine guidelines varied with respect to their recommendations on thyroid scanning, dose of levothyroxine (L-T4) treatment, and target thyroid-stimulating hormone(TSH) level of L-T4 therapy. CONCLUSIONS: The quality of the guidelines on the management of hypothyroidism in pregnancy is highly variable. Additionally, these guidelines need significant improvement, especially in the rigor of development and applicability domains. Some improvements should be made to promote the development and implementation of guidelines, for example, conducting a comprehensive search strategy to include more potential evidence and establishing a standard grading system to evaluate the quality of evidence.
Entities:
Keywords:
Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation instrument; Clinical practice guidelines; Hypothyroidism in pregnancy; Quality assessment
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