Systematic Review of Clinical Practice Guidelines: What, Why and How

In recent years, the number of clinical practice guidelines has been growing rapidly. An increasing number of identical or similar guidelines on the same topic have been developed and published for diseases. There are certain differences or conflicts in methodological quality and contents of recommendation. Clinical staffs face a lot of confusion when using the guidelines. A systematic review of guidelines can present more comprehensively and objectively the current status and differences in guidelines on the same topic, and can better guide clinical practice and improve the quality of healthcare service. Thus, we discussed the definition, methods, and challenges in systematic review of guidelines, and put forward some suggestions on how to develop a systematic review of guidelines, so as to provide references for guideline developers, users, and researchers.