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.