Shared decision making in breast cancer treatment guidelines: Development of a quality assessment tool and a systematic review

Abstract

Background: It is not clear whether clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) and consensus statements (CSs) are adequately promoting shared decision making (SDM).

Objective: To evaluate the recommendations about SDM in CPGs and CSs concerning breast cancer (BC) treatment.

Search strategy: Following protocol registration (Prospero no.: CRD42018106643), CPGs and CSs on BC treatment were identified, without language restrictions, through systematic search of bibliographic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, Scopus, CDSR) and online sources (12 guideline databases and 51 professional society websites) from January 2010 to December 2019.

Inclusion criteria: CPGs and CSs on BC treatment were selected whether published in a journal or in an online document.

Data extraction and synthesis: A 31-item SDM quality assessment tool was developed and used to extract data in duplicate.

Main results: There were 167 relevant CPGs (139) and CSs (28); SDM was reported in only 40% of the studies. SDM was reported more often in recent publications after 2015 (42/101 (41.6 %) vs 46/66 (69.7 %), P = .0003) but less often in medical journal publications (44/101 (43.5 %) vs 17/66 (25.7 %), P = .009). In CPGs and CSs with SDM, only 8/66 (12%) met one-fifth (6 of 31) of the quality items; only 14/66 (8%) provided clear and precise SDM recommendations.

Discussion and conclusions: SDM descriptions and recommendations in CPGs and CSs concerning BC treatment need improvement. SDM was more frequently reported in CPGs and CSs in recent years, but surprisingly it was less often covered in medical journals, a feature that needs attention.

Keywords: breast cancer; breast cancer treatment; clinical practice guidelines; consensus; shared decision making.