Further disquiet on the guidelines front

Abstract

"More discouraging news about clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). In this issue (page 157) Ian Graham and colleagues review the quality of drug therapy CPGs developed or endorsed by Canadian organizations from 1994 to 1998.1 Only 14.7% of the 217 guidelines reviewed met half or more of the 20 criteria defining the rigour of the development process, and independent reviewers recommended only 9.2% as being sound without modification. The drug therapy CPGs, it would seem, often retail opinion based on incomplete or haphazardly compiled scientific evidence. For much of the past decade, proponents of evidence-based medicine have decried the lack of uptake of CPGs. Given their quality, as reported by Graham and colleagues, perhaps we should instead applaud."