An evaluation of the quality, suitability and impact on equity of clinical practice guidelines relevant to preterm birth for use in Aotearoa New Zealand

Table 3 Quality of guidelines by type of district health board

	In use by DHBs with secondary maternity and neonatal services N = 80	In use by DHBs with tertiary maternity and neonatal services ^a N = 71	P value
AGREE II Domain	Median scaled AGREE II domain score^b
Domain 1: Scope and purpose	69.4	73.6	0.105
Domain 2: Stakeholder involvement	36.1	38.9	0.442
Domain 3: Rigour of development	14.3	21.9	< 0.001
Domain 4: Clarity of presentation	68.1	72.2	0.004
Domain 5: Applicability	25.0	31.3	0.002
Domain 6: Editorial independence	4.2	4.2	0.619
Overall Assessment	37.5	50.0	< 0.001
Criteria for high quality	Number of guidelines meeting the criteria for high quality N (%)
Median scaled domain 3 score > 60%	4 (5.0%)	3 (4.2%)	0.821
Median scaled overall score > 60%	6 (7.5%)	13 (18.3%)	0.046
> 50% of appraisers recommended for clinical use	3 (3.8%)	5 (7.0%)	0.367
> 50% appraisers recommended for clinical use or use with modifications^c	39 (48.8%)	48 (67.6%)	0.029

DHB: District Health Board
^aIncludes 25 guidelines that are in use by DHBs with secondary and tertiary maternity and neonatal services
^bScaled domain score calculated as: (obtained score - minimum possible score)/(maximum possible score – minimum possible score)
^cExcludes guidelines already included in the group > 50% of appraisers would recommend yes for clinical use

ISSN: 1471-2393