title: Quality assessment of peripheral artery disease clinical guidelines.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) provide recommendations to assist health professionals and patients in the process of making decisions for specific clinical conditions to improve the quality of the patient care. However, there are concerns about the quality of some CPGs. The aim of this study was to review the quality of CPGs in pharmacologic management of peripheral artery disease (PAD).
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic review of CPGs for the pharmacologic treatment of PAD was performed. CPGs published between 2003 and January 2015 in English, Spanish, or French were retrieved using PubMed, Cochrane, and TRIP databases; guideline developer organization Web sites, and European and American scientific societies related to PAD Web sites. One reviewer performed the search and guideline selection, which was validated by a second reviewer. Three appraisers independently assessed the quality of CPGs using the Appraisal of Guidelines, REsearch and Evaluation II (AGREE II) instrument.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of seven CPGs, published between 2006 and 2012, were included. All except one were written in English. Average AGREE II guidelines scores varied from 45% to 72%. There was considerable variation in the quality of the CPGs across the AGREE II domain scores (ranging from 4% to 85%). The highest scored domains were 'clarity of presentation' and 'editorial independence' and the lowest scored domain was 'applicability.' The reviewers consider that six CPGs could be recommended with modifications for use and one without modification.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is great variability in the quality of the CPGs on pharmacologic treatment in PAD. All of the assessed guidelines could be recommended; however, there is considerable scope to improve their quality by highlighting aspects of applicability, the involvement of the stakeholder, as well as the rigor of development.
authors.affiliation: Fundació d'Investigació en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Pharmacology, Therapeutic and Toxicology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana María
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Barriocanal
authors.affiliation: Fundació d'Investigació en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Pharmacology, Therapeutic and Toxicology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: López
authors.affiliation: Internal Medicine Service, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Monreal
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Therapeutic and Toxicology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Clinical Pharmacology Service, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: emontane.germanstrias@gencat.cat.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Montané
mesh_terms: D002317:Cardiovascular Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D058729:Peripheral Arterial Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards*; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000592:standards; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D002317:Cardiovascular Agents