Study on Quality Assessment of TCM Clinical Practice Guidelines Based on AGREE Instrument
基于AGREE 的中医循证

This study is aimed to identify and assess the quality of first batch of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) using appraisal of guidelines research and evaluation (AGREE) instrument. The evidence-based CPGs in TCM are supported by WHO/WPR, whose development was organized by the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. Data were identified by manual retrieval. The CPGs assessed by AGREE instrument were included. Data in each CPG were analyzed in terms of six domains in the AGREE instrument including scope and purpose, participants, conscientiousness, clarity, readability, applicability and editorial independence of CPGs. There are 28 CPGs identified. Among them, 26 CPGs were included. The results showed that the majority of CPGs presented with high quality editorial independence. And the average score was 81.46%. The conscientiousness of CPGsdevelopment was also good. The average score was 80.95%. The scope and purpose scored 79.96%. The clarity and readability scored 70.88%. The participants scored 61.28%. But the applicability scored the lowest with only 27.09%. The general evaluation revealed that nine CPGs were rated as "strongly recommended," five as "recommended with provision or alternation," and eleven as "unsure." It is concluded that the quality of applicability is a significant shortcoming. Special attention should be paid to improve the quality of applicability in the development of TCM CPGs.