Quality of guidelines for hyperthyroidism: systematic quality assessment using the AGREE II tool

The aim of this study was to systematically assess the quality of different guidelines for the management of patients with hyperthyroidism and to explore and analyze the recommendations and key evidence in different guidelines. A systematic search of databases and websites was conducted to identify treatment guidelines for hyperthyroidism. The quality of the included guidelines was assessed using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE II) tool. To evaluate the level of agreement among the guidelines, we employed the Measurement Scale of Rate of Agreement (MSRA), extracting and analyzing the evidence supporting these recommendations. Eleven guidelines for the management of patients with hyperthyroidism were identified. The guidelines from the American Thyroid Association (ATA), the Japanese Thyroid Association (JTA), the European Thyroid Association (ETA, 2022) and the Chinese Medical Association (CMA) had overall quality scores greater than 60% and warranted clinical recommendation. Recommendations vary widely across guidelines, and the main reasons included different emphases on the diagnosis of hyperthyroidism, different target populations, irrational selection of evidence and geographic variation. The quality of hyperthyroidism treatment guidelines is variable, and treatment recommendations vary greatly from guideline between guidelines. Analyzing and improving the causes of inconsistencies in recommendations for patients with hyperthyroidism could be a reasonable and effective way for developers to improve the quality of guidelines for the management of hyperthyroidism.