Table 4.
Level of Evidence in AOM guidelines
| Country | Grading system for LoE * | Score: consideration of benefits and harms (AGREE II Item 11†) | Score: strengths and limitations of the evidence (AGREE II Item 9) | Score: link between recommendations and evidence (AGREE II Item 12) |
| Belgium | INAMI | 5 | 7 | 6 |
| Czech Republic | – | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Denmark | OCEBM | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Finland | Duodecim | 1 | 6 | 6 |
| France | ANAES | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Germany | AWMF | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| Ireland | – | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Italy | PNLG | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| Luxembourg | – | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| The Netherlands | – | 7 | 7 | 5 |
| Norway | – | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Poland | Infectious Disease Society of America | 6 | 3 | 5 |
| Portugal | European Society of Cardiology | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Sweden | – | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Switzerland | – | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Spain | Infectious Disease Society of America | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| UK | SIGN | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| USA | AAP | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| WHO | GRADE | 7 | 7 | 6 |
*If no LoE scale used, it is denoted by –.
†AGREE II scores: 1=no information in the guideline; 7=exceptional reporting.
AAP, The American Association of Pediatrics; ANAES, l'Agence Nationale d'Accréditation et d'Évaluation en Santé; AOM, acute otitis media; AWMF, Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Wissenschaftlichen Medizinischen Fachgesellschaften; GRADE, Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations; INAMI, Institut National d'Assurance Maladie-Invalidité; LoE, level of evidence; OCEBM, Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine; PNLG, Programma Nazionale Linee Guida; SIGN, Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network.