Rigour of development of European Society of Cardiology, American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines over a 12-year period (2013-2024): a systematic review of guidelines.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) regularly publish guidelines for the management of cardiovascular disease. By definition, a guideline should follow strict methodological criteria, and have a transparent, traceable, and reproducible development process. We aimed to assess the overall strength of the recommendations and rigour of methodological development in ESC and ACC/AHA guidelines.

Methods and results

A systematic review of ESC and ACC/AHA guidelines published from 2013 to 2024 was conducted. Documents class of recommendation (COR) and level of evidence (LOE) of recommendations were included. For each document, data regarding citation count (ISI and Scholar), and COR and LOE

SUBMITTER: Gomes DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12445687 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature