Abstract
Objective
The aim of this study was to assess the methodological quality and accuracy of reporting
within systematic reviews (SRs) that provide evidence to form clinical practice guidelines
(CPGs) in the management and treatment of breast cancer.
Methods
The 5 included CPGs for breast cancer management among National Comprehensive Cancer
Network and European Society for Medical Oncology were searched for all SRs and meta-analyses.
The characteristics of each study along with their methodological reporting were extracted
from each SR using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Instrument for Systematic Reviews
and Meta-Analyses) and AMSTAR-2 (A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews 2)
tools. Our second objective was to compare SRs produced by Cochrane groups vs non-Cochrane.
Results
Our study included 5 CPGs for the management of breast cancer, containing 1341 total
references with 69 being unique SRs we analyzed. PRISMA completeness percent had a
mean 76.3% (n = 69), while AMSTAR-2 completeness score mean was 66.5% (n = 59). Cochrane
SRs were found to adhere far better to PRISMA (0.91 vs. 0.74) and AMSTAR-2 (0.95 vs.
0.62) guidelines compared to the non-Cochrane SRs.
Conclusion
The reporting quality of SRs that underpin CPGs in breast cancer management widely
varies. We recommend that authors of SRs adopt a more uniform approach in assessing
the quality of reporting within their studies. In addition, CPGs should use a more
standardized method to seek out evidence to establish their recommendations. With
improved reporting, clinicians may have increased confidence in CPGs and thus increased
utilization of CPGs in clinical decision making.
Keywords
Abbreviations:
CPG (Clinical practice guideline), SR (systematic review), NCCN (National Comprehensive Cancer Network), ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology), PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Instrument for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses), AMSTAR-2 (A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews 2), ESMO/ABC5 (5th ESO-ESMO International Consensus Guidelines for Advanced Breast Cancer, ABC 5), ESMO/EBC (Early Breast Cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up), ESMO/BCY4 (ESO-ESMO 4th International Consensus Guidelines for Breast Cancer in Young Women, BCY4), ESMO/BRCA (Prevention and Screening in BRCA Mutation Carriers and Other Breast/Ovarian Hereditary Cancer Syndromes: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for Cancer Prevention and Screening), NCCN/BC (NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology: Breast Cancer)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 28, 2022
Accepted:
April 22,
2022
Received in revised form:
February 13,
2022
Received:
July 9,
2021
Identification
Copyright
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