Characteristics and conflicting recommendations of clinical practice guidelines for COVID-19 management in children: A scoping review

Background: Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are statements that should be rigorously developed to guide clinicians' decision-making. However, given the scarce evidence for certain vulnerable groups like children, CPGs’ recommendations formulation could be challenging. Methods: We conducted a scoping review of CPGs for COVID-19 management in children. Documents were included if they claimed to be a “clinical practice guideline”, published between January and October 2021, and described the process followed to issue their recommendations. We assessed the quality using the “Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II” (AGREE-II) and described how the recommendations were reached. Results: We found five CPGs that fulfilled our inclusion criteria. The median score on the overall AGREE-II evaluation was 61% (range: 49%–72%), and the score on the third domain referred to the rigor of methodological development was 52% (range: 25%–88%). Recommendations for remdesivir, tocilizumab, and intravenous immunoglobulin were heterogeneous across CPGs (in favor, against, no recommendation), as well as the methodologies used to present the evidence, perform the benefits/harms balance, and issue the recommendation. Conclusions: Heterogeneous recommendations and justifications across CPGs were found in the three assessed topics. Future CPGs should describe in detail their evidence-to-decision process to issue reliable and transparent recommendations.