Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Sociedad Científica de San Fernando, Lima, Peru. Instituto de Evaluación de Tecnologías en Salud e Investigación, IETSI, EsSalud, Lima, Peru. Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola, Vicerrectorado de Investigación, Unidad de Investigación para la Generación y Síntesis de Evidencias en Salud, Lima, Peru. Electronic address: alvaro.taype.r@gmail.com. Hospital Nacional Edgardo Rebagliati Martins, EsSalud, Lima, Peru; Instituto de Investigación Nutricional, Lima, Peru; Red de Eficacia Clínica y Sanitaria, REDECS, Lima, Peru.
Travel medicine and infectious disease. 2022;48:102354
BACKGROUND Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are statements that should be rigorously developed to guide clinicians' decision-making. However, given the scarce evidence for certain vulnerable groups like children, CPGs' recommendations formulation could be challenging. METHODS We conducted a scoping review of CPGs for COVID-19 management in children. Documents were included if they claimed to be a "clinical practice guideline", published between
January and October 2021, and described the process followed to issue their recommendations. We assessed the quality using the "Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II" (AGREE-II) and described how the recommendations were reached. RESULTS We found five CPGs that fulfilled our inclusion criteria. The median score on the overall AGREE-II evaluation was 61% (range: 49%-72%), and the score on the third domain referred to the rigor of methodological development was 52% (range: 25%-88%). Recommendations for remdesivir, tocilizumab, and intravenous immunoglobulin were heterogeneous across CPGs (in favor, against, no recommendation), as well as the methodologies used to present the evidence, perform the benefits/harms balance, and issue the recommendation. CONCLUSIONS Heterogeneous recommendations and justifications across CPGs were found in the three assessed topics. Future CPGs should describe in detail their evidence-to-decision process to issue reliable and transparent recommendations.
