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Development and validation of a clinical guideline for diagnosing blepharospasm.

ABSTRACT: To design and validate a clinical diagnostic guideline for aiding physicians in confirming or refuting suspected blepharospasm.The guideline was developed and validated in a 3-step procedure: 1) identification of clinical items related to the phenomenology of blepharospasm, 2) assessment of the relevance of each item to the diagnosis of blepharospasm, and 3) evaluation of the reliability and diagnostic sensitivity/specificity of the selected clinical items.Of 19 clinical items initially identified, 7 were admitted by content validity analysis to further assessment. Both neurologists and ophthalmologists achieved satisfactory interobserver agreement for all 7 items, including "involuntary eyelid narrowing/closure due to orbicularis oculi spasms," "bilateral spasms," "synchronous spasms," "stereotyped spasm pattern," "sensory trick," "inability to voluntarily suppress the spasms," and "blink count at rest." Each selected item yielded unsatisfactory accuracy in discriminating patients with blepharospasm from healthy subjects and patients with other eyelid disturbances. Combining the selected items, however, improved diagnostic sensitivity/specificity. The best combination, yielding 93% sensitivity and 90% specificity, was an algorithm starting with the item "stereotyped, bilateral, and synchronous orbicularis oculi spasms inducing eyelid narrowing/closure" and followed by recognition of "sensory trick" or, alternatively, "increased blinking."This study provides an accurate and valid clinical guideline for diagnosing blepharospasm. Use of this guideline would make it easier for providers to recognize dystonia in clinical and research settings.

SUBMITTER: Defazio G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3770163 | biostudies-other | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Development and validation of a clinical guideline for diagnosing blepharospasm.

Defazio Giovanni G Defazio Giovanni G Hallett Mark M Jinnah Hyder A HA Berardelli Alfredo A

Neurology 20130614 3

<h4>Objective</h4>To design and validate a clinical diagnostic guideline for aiding physicians in confirming or refuting suspected blepharospasm.<h4>Methods</h4>The guideline was developed and validated in a 3-step procedure: 1) identification of clinical items related to the phenomenology of blepharospasm, 2) assessment of the relevance of each item to the diagnosis of blepharospasm, and 3) evaluation of the reliability and diagnostic sensitivity/specificity of the selected clinical items.<h4>R ...[more]

PMID: 23771487

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Project description:Importance:Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) may lack rigor and suitability to the setting in which they are to be applied. Methods to yield clinical practice guideline recommendations that are credible and implementable remain to be determined. Objective:To describe the development of AGREE-REX (Appraisal of Guidelines Research and Evaluation-Recommendations Excellence), a tool designed to evaluate the quality of clinical practice guideline recommendations. Design, Setting, and Participants:A cross-sectional study of 322 international stakeholders representing CPG developers, users, and researchers was conducted between December 2015 and March 2019. Advertisements to participate were distributed through professional organizations as well as through the AGREE Enterprise social media accounts and their registered users. Exposures:Between 2015 and 2017, participants appraised 1 of 161 CPGs using the Draft AGREE-REX tool and completed the AGREE-REX Usability Survey. Main Outcomes and Measures:Usability and measurement properties of the tool were assessed with 7-point scales (1 indicating strong disagreement and 7 indicating strong agreement). Internal consistency of items was assessed with the Cronbach ?, and the Spearman-Brown reliability adjustment was used to calculate reliability for 2 to 5 raters. Results:A total of 322 participants (202 female participants [62.7%]; 83 aged 40-49 years [25.8%]) rated the survey items (on a 7-point scale). All 11 items were rated as easy to understand (with a mean [SD] ranging from 5.2 [1.38] for the alignment of values item to 6.3 [0.87] for the evidence item) and easy to apply (with a mean [SD] ranging from 4.8 [1.49] for the alignment of values item to 6.1 [1.07] for the evidence item). Participants provided favorable feedback on the tool's instructions, which were considered clear (mean [SD], 5.8 [1.06]), helpful (mean [SD], 5.9 [1.00]), and complete (mean [SD], 5.8 [1.11]). Participants considered the tool easy to use (mean [SD], 5.4 [1.32]) and thought that it added value to the guideline enterprise (mean [SD], 5.9 [1.13]). Internal consistency of the items was high (Cronbach ??=?0.94). Positive correlations were found between the overall AGREE-REX score and the implementability score (r?=?0.81) and the clinical credibility score (r?=?0.76). Conclusions and Relevance:This cross-sectional study found that the AGREE-REX tool can be useful in evaluating CPG recommendations, differentiating among them, and identifying those that are clinically credible and implementable for practicing health professionals and decision makers who use recommendations to inform clinical policy.

Project description:IntroductionDe novo (new) guideline development methods are well described and supported by numerous examples, including comprehensive checklists. However, alternative guideline development methods, which draw from existing up to date, high quality clinical practice guidelines instead of re-inventing the wheel, have not been adopted so readily, despite the potential efficiencies of such methods compared to de novo development. In Africa, guideline quality and rigour of development, especially for prehospital care, remains poor. This paper firstly describes the opinions of international guideline experts on the African Federation for Emergency Medicine guideline project, and secondly updates a framework for South African prehospital guideline development.MethodsWe conducted a qualitative study of expert reviews of an evidence-based guideline development project led by the African Federation for Emergency Medicine in 2016 for prehospital care in South Africa. We purposefully sampled key international and regional guideline experts from a range of organisations. Comments and voice memos, following a terms of reference guide, were thematically analysed through manual coding.ResultsA total of seven experts gave feedback. Key themes revolved around existing international clinical practice guidelines not being enough to cover context specific evidence, blurring of guideline responsibilities and output, and transparency of guideline decisions and conflicts of interest. We showcase three fit-for-purpose guideline development approaches and provide an updated alternative guideline development roadmap for low-resource settings.ConclusionIn order to create clinical practice guidelines that clinicians trust and use on a daily basis to change lives, guideline developers need rigorous yet pragmatic approaches that are responsive to end-user needs. Reflecting on the African Federation for Emergency Medicine prehospital guideline development project in 2016, this paper presents key guiding themes to strengthen guideline development in low- and middle-income countries and other low-resource settings and provides an updated hybrid guideline development approach.

Dataset Information

Development and validation of a clinical guideline for diagnosing blepharospasm.

Publications

Development and validation of a clinical guideline for diagnosing blepharospasm.

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