Guidelines for the treatment of antiphospholipid syndrome

The antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by arterial and venous thrombosis, gestational morbidity and presence of elevated and persistently positive serum titers of antiphospholipid antibodies. The treatment of APS is still controversial, because any therapeutic decision potentially faces the risk of an insufficient or excessive antithrombotic coverage associated with anticoagulation and its major adverse effects. This guideline was elaborated from nine relevant clinical questions related to the treatment of APS by the Committee of Vasculopathies of the Brazilian Society of Rheumatology. Thus, this study aimed at establishing a guideline that included the most relevant and controversial questions in APS treatment, based on the best scientific evidence available. The questions were structured by use of the PICO (patient, intervention or indicator, comparison and outcome) process, enabling the generation of search strategies for evidence in the major primary scientific databases (MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase, Lilacs, Scielo, Cochrane Library, Premedline via OVID). A manual search for evidence and theses was also conducted (BDTD and IBICT). The evidence retrieved was selected based on critical assessment by using discriminatory instruments (scores) according to the category of the therapeutic question (JADAD scale for randomized clinical trials and Newcastle-Ottawa scale for non-randomized studies). After defining the potential studies to support the recommendations, they were selected according to level of evidence and grade of recommendation, according to the Oxford classification.