Clinical guidelines for acute stroke management: which recommendations should remain consensus-based?

Abstract

Although guideline recommendations should be based on the highest levels of evidence available, it may be appropriate for some recommendations to remain consensus-based. This study investigated stroke clinicians' and academics' opinions about which consensus-based recommendations from the Australian National Stroke Foundation Clinical Guidelines for Acute Stroke Management (2007) should remain as such, using a self-administered questionnaire. In the study, 43 people participated (62% response rate). Of the 50 recommendations presented, at least half the participants believed that 35 (70%) of these should remain consensus-based. In an adjusted multivariable analysis, recommendations perceived..