Critical Appraisal of Clinical Practice Guidelines for Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Table 3

Recommendations for improvement from an AGREE II assessment of age-related macular degeneration clinical practice guidelines from the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists.

Primary recommendations	Model from evaluated CPGs
Stakeholder involvement: clarify roles and input of patient representatives in guideline development and review	None
Transparency of guideline development process: clearly delineate roles of each member, evidence search process, methods of guideline development, and review	None
Applicability: address facilitators and barriers to application of recommendations by detailing economic factors affecting guideline implementation	None
Editorial independence: disclose methods by which commercial interests were sought and how competing interests may have influenced the recommendation formulation process	None
Additional recommendations
Strengthen stakeholder involvement by including a patient representative and disclosing members’ institutional affiliations	RCO
Improve transparency of development by including evidence ratings and direct evidence citations for each recommendation	AAO
Provide summary tables, patient education materials, and list of major recommendations to facilitate their implementation	AAO
Ensure and disclose independence of the guideline development group from potential influences of the funding body	AAO

AGREE II = Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II; AAO = American Academy of Ophthalmology; RCO = Royal College of Ophthalmologists.