2. METHODS
2.1. Introduction
For the 2024 Renal Transplantation Guidelines, new and relevant evidence was identified, collated and appraised through a structured assessment of the literature. Broad and comprehensive literature searches, covering the Renal Transplantation Guidelines were performed, covering a time frame between May 31st 2020 and 1st April 2023. Databases searched included Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Libraries. Detailed search strategies are available online: https://uroweb.org/guidelines/renal-transplantation.
Recommendation within the Guidelines are developed by the panels to prioritise clinically important care decisions. The strength of each recommendation is determined by the balance between desirable and undesirable consequences of alternative management strategies, the quality of the evidence (including certainty of estimates), and the nature and variability of patient values and preferences. This decision process, which can be reviewed in the strength rating forms which accompany each guideline statement, addresses a number of key elements:
- the overall quality of the evidence which exists for the recommendation [1];
- the magnitude of the effect (individual or combined effects);
- the certainty of the results (precision, consistency, heterogeneity and other statistical or study related factors);
- the balance between desirable and undesirable outcomes;
- the impact and certainty of patient values and preferences on the intervention
Strong recommendations typically indicate a high degree of evidence quality and/or a favourable balance of benefit to harm and patient preference. Weak recommendations typically indicate availability of lower quality evidence, and/or equivocal balance between benefit and harm, and uncertainty or variability of patient preference [2].
2.2. Review
This document was subject to independent peer review prior to publication in 2017. Publications ensuing from systematic reviews have all been peer reviewed.