An Analysis of the Evidence Underpinning the American Urologic Association Clinical Practice Guidelines

To evaluate the reporting quality of systematic reviews (SRs) underpinning the American Urologic Association (AUA) clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). We searched the AUA for CPGs from 2015–2021. We extracted all SRs from the reference sections and two independent investigators evaluated eligible SR/meta-analysis using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Instrument for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) and AMSTAR-2 (A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews 2) instruments. We compared SRs conducted by the Cochrane group to non-Cochrane SRs using a Mann-Whitney test. A multivariate regression was used to compare study characteristics. Eighteen CPG's met inclusion criteria. We extracted 120 unique SRs, which accounted for 5.1% (n = 120/2346) of all citations. Mean percent adherence to PRISMA and AMSTAR-2 was 65.4% –d 55.2% respectively. SRs conducted by the Cochrane Collaboration scored higher on AMSTAR-2 compared to non-Cochrane (z = -4.41, P