title: Methodology and grading for pulmonary hypertension evidence review and guideline development.
abstract: The American College of Chest Physicians assembled a multidisciplinary, geographically diverse panel of experts in the treatment of pulmonary hypertension to develop clinically relevant practice guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension in its many variations. That group of experts produced recommendations covering five topic areas, each related to a distinct set of patient-management decisions. This article describes the approach used to develop the guidelines, including identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing the evidence, assessing the strength of evidence pertinent to individual guidelines, and grading guideline recommendations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and the Center for Clinical Health Policy Research, Duke University Medical Center, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA. douglas.mccrory@duke.edu
authors.forename: Douglas C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: McCrory
authors.forename: Sandra Zelman
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D011651:Pulmonary Artery; D012955:Societies, Medical