Quality Appraisal
Prior review of domains in AGREE II were undertaken for familiarization
with the scoring system to be adopted. Three researchers independently
scrutinized the guidelines before giving scores for each domain with
comments to support the assigned scores. The scores from the three
reviewers were then compiled and compared with each other. If there was
any discrepancy in scores of an item deviating more than 2, discussion
with the senior researcher was carried out to come to a consensus of
scores. Domain scores were then calculated using the following formula:
\begin{equation}
\frac{\left(obtained\ score-minimum\ possible\ score\right)}{\left(maximum\ possible\ score-minimum\ possible\ score\right)}x100\nonumber \\
\end{equation}Results were then denoted as percentages (%). The maximum possible
score for a domain was:
\begin{equation}
\nonumber \\
\end{equation}The minimum possible score for a domain was:
\begin{equation}
\nonumber \\
\end{equation}Any guideline that achieved an overall score of more than 60% was
deemed as having acceptable quality’ and a score below 40% was deemed
as low quality. However, each guideline was reviewed as whole, when it
came to suggesting its adaptability into practice. Recommendations with
their corresponding grading and level of evidence were summarized into a
table, to aid the clinician in decision making.