Article
Dissemination and Evaluation of clinical practice guidelines in Japan – MINDS project as guideline clearinghouse
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Published: | July 10, 2012 |
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Outline
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Background: Japan Council for Quality Health Care established evidence based information center, MINDS (Medical Information Network Distribution Service) to disseminate clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) and related information in 2002. Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) approved MINDS as consignment project for MHLW in 2011. MINDS started to strengthen the function as guideline clearinghouse in Japan.
Objectives: To identify evidence based CPGs developed in Japan, and to assess their quality.
Methods: Japanese CPGs were searched on 10 major Japanese databases (January 2007 to December 2011). After screening with exclusion criteria, selected CPGs were evaluated with Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation (AGREE Instrument) by guideline evaluation committee.
Results: A total of 1565 literatures published in 2007-2011 were identified by the search process. As of 2011, 240 literatures were identified; of these, 60 (25%) guidelines were evidence based CPGs. Guideline developers were: 44 medical societies (73%), 10 research committee (17%), and 6 Health and Labor Sciences Research Groups (10%). Major topics of CPGs were: 9 kidney and urologic disease, 7 neoplasm, 7 orthopedic disease, 6 pediatric and 5 nervous system disease.
Discussion: The number of published guidelines is increasing rapidly, however, of those guidelines, evidence based CPG is limited.
Implications for guideline developers/users: As guideline clearinghouse, MINDS needs to not only update information about CPGs but also estimate the quality of CPGs systematically.