The AGREE II protocol consist of 23 different items organised in 6 domains: domain 1 = "Scope and Purpose" (items 1 3); domain 2 = "Stakeholder Involvement" (items 4 6); domain 3 = "Rigor of Development" (items 7 14); domain 4 = "Clarity of Presentation" (items 15 17); domain 5 = "Applicability" (items 18 21); domain 6 = "Editorial Independence".
Tables 2 and 3 and figure 2 describe the reporting of essential applicability items.
Applicability (items 19 21): These items cover the likely organisational, behavioural and cost implications of applying the guidelines.
In our study, orthopaedic surgeons contributed to the selection of relevant applicability items for each of the four interventions.
One author (LP) appraised the reporting of essential applicability items using a standardised data extraction form (see web extra appendix 2).
We compared the percentage of applicability items reported for randomised controlled trials and non-randomised studies by a non-paired Wilcoxon test.
We extracted data on the reporting of essential applicability items using standardised methods and compared the quality of reporting for non-randomised studies and randomised controlled trials.
To compare the reporting of applicability of the results of the two study types, we calculated the percentage of applicability items reported, from 0 (no item reported) to 100 (all items reported), for each trial for the three domains of patients, experimental intervention, and context of care.
The tool consists of 23 items organized in 6 domains: scope and purpose (3 items), stakeholder involvement (3 items), rigor of development (8 items), clarity and presentation (3 items), applicability (4 items) and editorial independence (2 items).
The AGREE II tool has 23 items in 6 domains of Scope and Purpose (3 items), Stakeholder involvement (3 items), Rigour of Development (8 items), Clarity of Presentation (3 items), Applicability (4 items) and Editorial Independence (2 items).
