Critical appraisal of clinical practice guidelines for depression in children and adolescents: A protocol for systematic review

Abstract

Background: Depression as a clinically significant and growing public health issue is the third leading cause of disability. Adolescent-onset depression has been associated with psychiatric, anxiety disorders, suicidality, medical comorbidities, and an elevated risk of major depressive disorder episodes later in life. How to effectively identify, prevent, and treat depression has become one of the key points of discussion among medical institutions/departments. With the importance of depression being emphasized, countries/organizations around the world have developed guidelines for clinical practice related to depression for different groups of people to guide medical staff to implement scientific, effective, and standardized depression management. However, the quality of such guidelines is not yet clear, which is not conducive to the selection of medical staff and affects clinical application to a certain extent. This study aims to evaluate the rigor of the development of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for depression in children and adolescents and will identify, in these documents, the recommendations for depression in children and adolescents.

Methods: Electronic databases and specific databases of CPGs will be searched. Study selection and data extraction will be performed independently by 2 reviewers. The AGREE II Instrument and RIGHT checklist will be used to assess the methodological quality and reporting quality of included CPGs about depression in children and adolescents. We will also analyze consistency and inconsistency of the recommendations in CPGs, including assessment, diagnosis, screening, treatment, and management. Bubble charts will be used to show the differences in methodological and reporting quality. Subgroup analysis will be conducted according to the result of evaluation. Excel and Endnote X9 will be used.

Results: Using the search drafts of electronic databases, we included 6 CPGs. The results of our study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Conclusions: Our study will provide systematic evidence for existing CPGs for depression in children and adolescents and provide a guidance for CPGs users.

Protocol registration: INPLASY202080002.

Figure 1

The flowchart of the screening process.