title: The quality of clinical practice guidelines for chronic respiratory diseases and the reliability of the AGREE II: an observational study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To survey the quality of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for chronic respiratory diseases relevant to physiotherapy practice using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation version II instrument (AGREE II) and to evaluate the inter-rater reliability of AGREE II.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Guidelines indexed in the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) on chronic respiratory diseases were evaluated by four assessors using AGREE II.
  
  
  METHODS
  The six domains and two global items of AGREE II.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-three guidelines were evaluated (58% were published in the last 5 years and 36% were for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). The domains with the highest scores were scope and purpose (79%, SD 10%) and clarity of presentation (79%, SD 10%). The domain with the lowest score was applicability (37%, SD 23%). Mean overall quality was five out of seven (SD 1). Intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.66 to 0.93 for the six domains and first global item, suggesting good to excellent reliability. The second global item had very poor reliability (Kappa 0.097).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The quality of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for chronic respiratory diseases relevant to physiotherapy could be improved, particularly in consideration with applicability. The number of assessors for AGREE II could be reduced because of the good inter-rater reliability.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, UNESP-Univ Estadual Paulista, Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: juliana_uzeloto@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Juliana Souza
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Uzeloto
authors.affiliation: The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Electronic address: amoseley@georgeinstitute.org.au.
authors.forename: Anne M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Moseley
authors.affiliation: Centre for Education & Workforce Development, Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Electronic address: mark.elkins@sydney.edu.au.
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Elkins
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, UNESP-Univ Estadual Paulista, Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: marciarfranco@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Marcia Rodrigues
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, UNESP-Univ Estadual Paulista, Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: rafaelzambelli@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Rafael Zambelli
authors.initials: RZ
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, UNESP-Univ Estadual Paulista, Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: anapcff@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ana Paula Coelho Figueira
authors.initials: APCF
authors.lastname: Freire
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, UNESP-Univ Estadual Paulista, Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: ercy@bol.com.br.
authors.forename: Ercy Mara Cipulo
authors.initials: EMC
authors.lastname: Ramos
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D006801:Humans; D015588:Observer Variation; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities / Q000592:standards*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000534:rehabilitation*
keywords: Physiotherapy specialty; Practice guideline; Respiratory tract diseases