A guide to guidelines for professional societies and other developers of recommendations: introduction to integrating and coordinating efforts in COPD guideline development. An official ATS/ERS workshop report

Organizations around the world are recognizing that guidelines should be based on the best available evidence, that the development of recommendations needs to be transparent, and that appropriate processes should be followed. In June 2007, we convened an American Thoracic Society (ATS)/European Respiratory Society (ERS)-sponsored workshop with over 60 representatives from 36 international organizations to provide advice to guideline developers about the required steps and processes for guideline development using the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as an example. Following the workshop, participants completed a series of 14 review articles that underwent peer review and incorporated key new literature until June 2011 for most articles in this series. The review articles evaluate the guideline cycle including: priority setting, question formulation, managing conflict of interest, defining appropriate outcomes, stakeholder involvement, grading the quality of evidence and strength...