Evidence Map of Clinical Practice Guideline Recommendations on Stroke Rehabilitation

The purpose of this study was to provide an evidence map for explaining research trends and gaps. Four databases and clinical practice guidelines-related Websites were searched up to March 2022. Basic information, methodological quality, reporting quality of clinical practice guidelines, and similar stroke recommendations were extracted. The methodological and reporting quality of stroke clinical practice guidelines were evaluated using the Appraisal of Guidelines Research and Evaluation (second version) instrument and the Reporting Items for Practice Guidelines in Healthcare checklist. The bubble plot format of the evidence map helped visualize the overall quality. Data management and analysis were performed using Excel 2013 and SPSS 22.0 software. A total of 12 clinical practice guidelines, published between 1997 and 2020, were included for in-depth analysis. The identified clinical practice guidelines had a mixed quality and scored poorly in the developmental rigor and applicability domains by Appraisal of Guidelines Research and Evaluation (second version). According to the Reporting Items for Practice Guidelines in Healthcare checklist, field four (clarity of expression) showed the highest (79.2%), and field three (rigor of formulation) secured the lowest (28%) reporting rates. The stroke rehabilitation recommendations primarily focused on organizational management, timing and intensity, rehabilitation and nutritional management of dysphagia, return to work, communication, speech, and language function. This would promote improvement in developing trustworthy clinical practice guidelines for stroke rehabilitation.