Quality and consistency of clinical practice guidelines on the prevention of food allergy and atopic dermatitis: Systematic review protocol

Abstract

Background and aims: Allergy prevention strategies have gained significant traction as a means to attenuate the growing burden of allergic diseases over the past decade. As the evidence base for primary prevention of food allergy (FA) and atopic dermatitis (AD) is constantly advancing, clinical practice guideline (CPG) recommendations on interventions for FA and AD prevention vary in quality and consistency among professional organizations. We present a protocol for a systematic review of CPGs on primary prevention of FA and AD. Methods: We will systematically review and appraise all CPGs addressing primary prevention of FA and AD and report our findings according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Electronic databases and manual website searches from January 2011 to March 2021 without language or geographical restrictions, and supplemented by author contact, will generate the list of potentially relevant CPGs to screen. Evaluation of the methodological quality, consistency, and global applicability of shortlisted CPGs will be performed by members of the Allergy Prevention Work Group of the World Allergy Organization (WAO) using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) II and AGREE-REX (Recommendations EXcellence). instruments. Guideline contents, consistency, and quality of the recommendations will be summarised in tabular and narrative formats. We aim to present consolidated recommendations from international guidelines of the highest methodological quality and applicability, as determined by AGREE II and AGREE-REX. Dissemination: This systematic review will provide a succinct overview of the quality and consistency of recommendations across all existing CPGs for FA and AD prevention, as well as crucial perspectives on applicability of individual recommendations in different geographical contexts. Results from this systematic review will be reported in a peer-reviewed journal. It will also inform a position statement by WAO to provide a practical framework to guide the development of future guidelines for allergy prevention worldwide. Prospero registration number: CRD42021265689.