Zhongguo quanke yixue (Mar 2022)

Quality Assessment of Guidelines forVascular Cognitive Impairment Using the AGREEⅡ

  • MA Huaping, HAN Zhenyun, CHANG Ze, WANG Yuchun, HU Yuli, ZHANG Dingding

DOI
https://doi.org/10.12114/j.issn.1007-9572.2021.02.127
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 25, no. 09
pp. 1039 – 1046

Abstract

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BackgroundAs the second primary type of cognitive impairment worldwide, vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) is closely associated with cerebrovascular risks, which imposes a heavy burden on the society and families. Early diagnosis and treatment are important for intervening and reversing VCI. And formulating high-quality clinical guidelines is an effective way to improve diagnosis and treatment levels of VCI.ObjectiveTo assess the quality of guidelines for VCI, aiming at offering support for making clinical decisions for VCI.MethodsFrom August to November 2021, we searched literature databases and websites in China and abroad to identify guidelines for VCI, and assessed them using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation (AGREE) Ⅱ.ResultsA total of 18 guidelines were enrolled, 12 of which are Chinese guidelines and 6 are foreign guidelines; 9 of which are evidence-based guidelines, and the other 9 are not. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.935, indicating a high degree of agreement between raters. The overall quality of these guidelines was relatively low, since in the six domains, only the average score of Clarity of Presentation was greater than 60% (64.04%) , and the average scores of Scope and Purpose (52.31%) and Editorial Independence (42.01%) were between 30% and 60%, and those for other three domains, Stakeholder Involvement (27.24%) , Rigor of Development (20.05%) and Applicability (13.83%) , were all less than 30%. The grade of recommendation for 6 guidelines was B, and that for other 12 guidelines was C.ConclusionThe overall quality of the included guidelines was rated relatively low, especially their average score for each of the three domains, Stakeholder Involvement, Rigor of Development, and Applicability, was below the average level. It is suggested to enhance the quality of VCI guidelines via improving the details of guidelines strictly under the evidence-based principle.

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