AOA requesting peer, public review for POAG practice guideline

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The American Optometric Association (AOA) is garnering peer and public reviews online for its new evidence-based clinical practice guideline, Care of the Patient with Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma. The review period, open for 30 days, will close after April 24. The finished guidelines will then be available later in 2024, according to a news release.

“AOA’s clinical practice guidelines are designed to elevate health care quality by providing doctors of optometry a platform to build quality clinical care to ensure patients are diagnosed and treated based on the best available scientific research,” said AOA President Ronald L. Benner, OD, in the release. “Public review helps broaden the perspective of input, so this guideline can exist at its best and most useful form.”

The new practice guideline by developed by the AOA’s Evidence-based Optometry Guideline Development Group in accordance with National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine standards. These standards also specify that the first edition of this guideline requires external review from stakeholders including doctors, agencies, industry representatives, and the public. Additionally, the practice guideline was funded entirely by the AOA.¹

The AOA cites in the guideline that 14 steps are used to develop evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, which include using a guideline development group, identifying clinical questions, articulating clinical recommendations and strengths, and reviewing and editing drafts of the said guideline.² Superior study types for developing practice guidelines are meta-analysis, systematic review, randomized clinical trials, and diagnostic studies that do not have a narrow population or use a poor references standard, and no case control studies of diseases or conditions.²

The AOA released its original consensus-based clinical practice guideline that was regarding primary open-angle glaucoma in 1995, with its last revision posted in 2010. The new guideline “provides the highest quality current scientific evidence, research, and analysis with scientific evidence and recommends appropriate steps in the diagnosis, management, and treatment of adult patients with primary open-angle glaucoma,” the release stated.¹

After reading the draft, participants leave their comments and suggestions here. Those who submit comments will receive an email confirmation.¹

References:

1. New Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guideline Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma Available for Peer and Public Review. American Optometric Association. News release. Published March 7, 2024. Accessed March 20, 2024.

2. Care of the Patient with Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma. American Optometric Association. Evidence-based clinical practice guideline review. Published February 27, 2024. Accessed March 20, 2024.