Systematic review of the quality of clinical guidelines for aphasia in stroke management

Rationaleaims and objectives Aphasia affects up to 38% of stroke survivors. Clinical guidelines can improve patient care and outcomes. Given the importance of aphasia management in stroke care, the purpose of this study was to systematically search for, retrieve and assess the quality of currently published clinical guidelines for aphasia in stroke management. Method Systematic search of bibliographic resources, publications, association websites, databases, Internet and pearling revealed multidisciplinary stroke and speech pathology‐specific clinical guidelines, which were evaluated using the Appraisal of Guidelines and Research and Evaluation (AGREE) II tool. Guidelines obtaining a rigour of development score above 66.67% in AGREE II evaluations underwent further ADAPTE Collaboration tool analysis. Results There was significant variability in methodological rigour, reporting of guideline development processes and scope of coverage of recommendations pertaining to aphasia management provided within the guidelines. The Australian Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Management (2010) and New Zealand Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Management (2010) achieved the highest scores (74% and 81%, respectively) in AGREE II analysis and both obtained a ‘yes’ in all seven ADAPTE domains. The Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network 108 (2008) guideline achieved 73% in AGREE II and six out of seven ‘yes’ in ADAPTE, however, contained no aphasia‐specific recommendations. The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (2005) guideline provided the most comprehensive aphasia coverage, however, demonstrated lower methodological rigour in AGREE II (64%) and ADAPTE evaluations (three ‘yes’ out of seven). Conclusion Improvement is needed in the quality of methodological rigour in development and reporting within clinical guidelines, and in aphasia‐specific recommendations within stroke multidisciplinary clinical guidelines.