Table 2.
Characteristics of Included Guidelines
| Source | Organisation, Country of Origin | Covered Scope† | No. of Authors | Literature Search: Period/Databases | No. of References |
| ACC/AHA 2001 [50] | American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association, U.S.A. | D, T | 14 | Period not specified MEDLINE, EMBASE | 573 |
| AKDAE 2001 [45] | Drug Commission of the German Medical Association, Germany | P | Not specified | No systematic search | 216 |
| CCS 2001 [56], 2002/3 [55] | Canadian Cardiovascular Society, Canada | D, T | Not specified | Period not specified MEDLINE | 2001: 79; 2002/3: 42 |
| DGK 2001 [46] | German Cardiac Society, Germany | T | 2 | 1990–2000; Databases: not specified | 213 |
| DieM 2003/2004 [47] | Institute for Evidence-Based Medicine, Germany | T | 3 | Period not specified (Last 03/2003); MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, „Best Evidence" | 42 |
| Duodecim 2004 [60] | The Finnish Medical Society Duodecim, Finland | D, T | Not specified | Period not specified (Last 03/2004); DARE, „Best Evidence" | Ca. 50†† |
| DVA & VHA 2002 [51] | Department of Veterans Affairs & Veterans Health Administration, U.S.A. | P | 14* | Update search 01/2001 to 11/2002; MEDLINE | 197 |
| ESC 2002/2001 [62] | European Society of Cardiology, (Europe) | D, T | 18 | Not specified | 196 |
| ICSI 2003 [52] | Institute for Clinical System Improvement, U.S.A. | D, T | 11 | Not specified | Ca. 50 |
| LLGH 2003 [48] | 'Leitliniengruppe' (Group of Family Physicians in Hesse), Germany | (D), T | 2 | Period not specified MEDLINE | 72 |
| NHF/Austr & SANZ 2002 [58] | National Heart Foundation of Australia and Cardiac Society of Australia & New Zealand | D, T | 33 | Not specified | 143 |
| NHF/NZ 2001 [59] | The National Heart Foundation of New Zealand | D, T | 19 | Period not specified (Last 04/2000); MEDLINE | 44 |
| NICE 2003 [61] | The National Collaborating Centre for Chronic Conditions/National Institute for Clinical Excellence, United Kingdom | D, T | 15** | Start of the Database until 09/2002; MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, AMED, Cochrane Library, EconLit | 347‡ |
| OPOT 2000 [57] | Ontario Program for Optimal Therapeutics, Canada | P | Not specified | Not specified | 24 |
| UM 2001 [53,54] | University of Michigan, U.S.A. | D, T | 6 | 1994 – 02/1998, + hand searches until 2001; MEDLINE | 50 |
| UWH 2001 [49] | Faculty of Medicine, University Witten/Herdecke, Germany | D, T | 5 + 2‡‡ | Not specified | 157 |
†Limitation on recommendations with evidence levels and/or grading; ††Ascertainment possibly incomplete because of document structure (internet-based version with links to other documents); *Supported by 13 members of The Medical Advisory; **Support from 14 members of the Guideline Reference Group; ‡Additional citations in evidence tables not counted; ‡‡Additional advisors from specialized care; Abbreviations: D – diagnostics, (D) – diagnostics partly, T – therapy, P – pharmacotherapy only