Table 1 Summary of assessments of the sensibility of six approaches to rating levels of evidence and strength of recommendation
Criteria1 | ACCP | ANHMRC2 | USTFCPS | OCEBM | SIGN | USPSTF3 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | |||||||
1. Applicable to different questions: | ||||||||||||||||||
Effectiveness | 12 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 9 | ||||||||
Harm | 1 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |||
Diagnosis | 7 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |||
Prognosis | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | ||
2. Can be used by: | ||||||||||||||||||
Professionals | 1 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 8 | ||||
Policy makers | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
Patients | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 1 | |||
3. Clear and simple | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
4. Information not available | 8 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 2 | ||
5. Subjective decisions | 2 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 9 | ||||
6. Inappropriate dimensions | 1 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 6 | ||
7. Missing dimensions | 1 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
Aggregation of dimensions: | ||||||||||||||||||
8. Clear and simple | 1 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 2 | |
9. Appropriate | 6 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 5 | |
10. Sufficient categories | 1 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 10 | ||
11. Likely to discriminate | 7 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 7 | |||
12. Assessments reproducible | 1 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 10 | ||||