Review
A critical appraisal of clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of lower-limb osteoarthritis
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* Corresponding author: James N Pencharz pencharz@uhnres.utoronto.ca
1 Institute of Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada
2 Arthritis & Autoimmunity Research Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada
3 Department of Medicine, Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada
4 Department of Family and Community Medicine, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada
5 Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada
6 Institute for Work & Health, Toronto, Canada
7 Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research Program, Department of Medicine and Department of Health Administration, University of Toronto, Canada
8 Department of Medicine, Mt Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada
Arthritis Res 2002, 4:36-44 doi:10.1186/ar381
Published: 16 October 2001Abstract
Clinical practice guidelines are important tools to assist clinical decision-making. Recently, several guidelines addressing the management of osteoarthritis (OA) have been published. Clinicians treating patients with OA must ensure that these guidelines are developed with consistency and methodological rigour. We undertook a qualitative summary and critical appraisal of six medical treatment guidelines for the management of lower-limb OA published in the medical literature within the past 5 years. A review of these six guidelines revealed that each possesses strengths and weakness. While most described the scope and intended patient populations, the guidelines varied considerably in the rigour of their development, coverage of implementation issues, and disclosure of conflicts of interest.