TABLE 1.

Characteristics of the included guidelines.

Characteristic		Number of articles	Percentage (%)
First author’s country	United States	19	28.8
	United Kingdom	8	12.1
	Australia	5	7.6
	Canada	5	7.6
	France	5	7.6
	Italy	5	7.6
	Other a	19	28.7
Publication year	2018	29	43.9
	2019	19	28.8
	2020	18	27.3
Disease system	Endocrine, nutritional or metabolic diseases	7	10.6
	Immune system diseases	7	10.6
	Respiratory diseases	6	9.1
	Digestive system diseases	6	9.1
	Diseases of the blood or blood-forming organs	5	7.6
	Other b	35	53.0
Evidence grading system	Reported	42	65.2
	Not reported	24	36.4
Conflicts of interest	Yes	19	28.8
	No	29	43.9
	Without reported	18	27.3
Developer	Professional associations and organizations	56	84.8
	Group of individuals	4	6.1
	Not reported	6	9.1
Clarity of recommendations c	Clear	47	71.2
	Unclear	19	28.8
Proportion of recommendations on drug use d	0%~49.9%	28	60.9
	50.0%~99.9%	15	32.6
	100%	3	6.5
Proportion of drug use recommendations on off-label use e	0%~49.9%	14	30.4
	50.0%~99.9%	20	43.5
	100%	12	26.1

^aIndia, Germany, Israel, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Austria, Japan, China, Turkey, Brazil, Poland, and South Korea.

^bMusculoskeletal or connective tissue diseases; signs, symptoms, or clinical findings; ear or mastoid disease; skin diseases; visual system disorders; certain infectious or parasitic diseases; circulatory system diseases; genitourinary diseases; injury, poisoning, or some other external cause; neurological diseases; tumors, and others that could not be classified.

^cThe recommendations were clear if they were explicitly highlighted (e.g., in bold face) or stated individually, and unclear if they were narrative and embedded in paragraphs throughout the guidelines.

^dThe number of drug-use recommendations divided by the total number of recommendations.

^eThe number of off-label drug recommendations divided by the number of recommendations on drug use.