The Impact of Hepatitis C Burden
The Impact of Hepatitis C Burden
Hepatologists from the spectrum of practice with an expertise in evidence assessment were invited to participate. Each participant was provided an area of focus. To ensure consistent search criteria for the presentations developed specifically for this workshop, presenters were given the following literature search guidelines: literature searches should be (i) conducted using PubMed; (ii) limited to peer reviewed articles; (iii) focused on studies involving human data only; (iv) published in English; and (v) published from the year 2000 onward (unless it was considered a critical piece of evidence for the section). The inclusion of review articles, scientific abstracts and book chapters was discouraged. Additional studies were added through review of the bibliographies of identified publications. Search terms and inclusion/exclusion criteria were specialised for each presentation.
Workshop participants were also asked to characterise the quality of evidence supporting recommendations using a Class (reflecting benefit vs. risk) and Level (assessing strength or certainty) of Evidence to be assigned and reported with each recommendation consistent with development of Practice Guidelines. Recommendations received a strength grade of Strong (1; factors influencing the strength of recommendation included the quality of evidence, presumed patient-important outcomes and cost) or Weak (2; variability in preferences and values, or more uncertainty [recommendation is made with less certainty, higher cost or resource consumption]). In addition, recommendations were graded based on quality of evidence as either High (A; further research is unlikely to change confidence in the estimate of the clinical effect), Moderate (B; further research may change confidence in the estimate of the clinical effect) or Low (C; further research is very likely to impact confidence on the estimate of clinical effect). This grading system was applied to all recommendations with the exception of recommendations pertaining to the economic burden of HCV infection, as there are no interventional studies with economic end points.
Methods
Hepatologists from the spectrum of practice with an expertise in evidence assessment were invited to participate. Each participant was provided an area of focus. To ensure consistent search criteria for the presentations developed specifically for this workshop, presenters were given the following literature search guidelines: literature searches should be (i) conducted using PubMed; (ii) limited to peer reviewed articles; (iii) focused on studies involving human data only; (iv) published in English; and (v) published from the year 2000 onward (unless it was considered a critical piece of evidence for the section). The inclusion of review articles, scientific abstracts and book chapters was discouraged. Additional studies were added through review of the bibliographies of identified publications. Search terms and inclusion/exclusion criteria were specialised for each presentation.
Quality of Evidence
Workshop participants were also asked to characterise the quality of evidence supporting recommendations using a Class (reflecting benefit vs. risk) and Level (assessing strength or certainty) of Evidence to be assigned and reported with each recommendation consistent with development of Practice Guidelines. Recommendations received a strength grade of Strong (1; factors influencing the strength of recommendation included the quality of evidence, presumed patient-important outcomes and cost) or Weak (2; variability in preferences and values, or more uncertainty [recommendation is made with less certainty, higher cost or resource consumption]). In addition, recommendations were graded based on quality of evidence as either High (A; further research is unlikely to change confidence in the estimate of the clinical effect), Moderate (B; further research may change confidence in the estimate of the clinical effect) or Low (C; further research is very likely to impact confidence on the estimate of clinical effect). This grading system was applied to all recommendations with the exception of recommendations pertaining to the economic burden of HCV infection, as there are no interventional studies with economic end points.
Source...