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EDUCATION AND DEBATE:
Robin Harbour and Juliet Miller
A new system for grading recommendations in evidence based guidelines
BMJ 2001; 323: 334-336 [Full text]
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[Read Rapid Response] grade of recommendation
frank peinemann   (18 February 2004)

grade of recommendation 18 February 2004
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frank peinemann,
medical doctor
duesseldorf, nrw 40474; germany

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Re: grade of recommendation

to whom it may concern:

this is your text and the corresponding reference:

Until recently, the system for grading guideline recommendations was based on the work of the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (formerly the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research). 1

1 United States Department of Health and Human Services. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. Acute pain management: operative or medical procedures and trauma. Rockville, MD: AHCPR, 1993:107. (Clinical practice guideline No 1, AHCPR publication No 92-0023.)

this is the reference from http://www.ahcpr.gov/clinic/cpgarchv.htm:

Acute Pain Management: Operative or Medical Procedures and Trauma Clinical Practice Guideline No. 1. AHCPR Publication No. 92-0032: February 1992

the publication number and the year are different from your citation

major question: what is the original first publication where the ahcpr "grades of recommendation" are reported? the above mentioned publication, that is cited in your article does report the "levels of evidence" in appendix b, however, it does not report the "grades of recommendation" in this guideline.

thank you in advance
sincerely yours
frank peinemann

Competing interests: None declared