Title of guideline | Country | Year | Intervention(s) assessed | Outcome | Clinical trial design characteristics in supporting evidence | Use of observational studies | Meta-analyses included individual risk of bias assessment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Clinical practice guideline for management of substance use disorders (SUD) [13] | USA | 2009 | Methadone and buprenorphine | Decrease in opioid use (relapse prevention) | Explanatory by design with strict eligibility criteria | No | Yes, but no discussion of severe limitations of included trials (allocation concealment) |
Clinical practice guideline for management of substance use disorders (SUD) [13] | USA | 2009 | Methadone and buprenorphine | Retention in treatment | Explanatory by design with strict eligibility criteria | No | No discussion of poor methodological quality of included trials and estimate suffers from imprecision |
Clinical practice guideline for management of substance use disorders (SUD) [13] | USA | 2009 | Naltrexone | Decrease in opioid use (relapse prevention) and retention | Explanatory trials by design with strict eligibility criteria used within meta-analysis | No | Meta-analyses provided (two with proper risk of bias assessment) |
Buprenorphine/naloxone treatment for opioid dependence clinical practice guidelines [14] | Canada | 2011 | Buprenorphine/naloxone | Decrease in opioid use (relapse prevention) and retention | Explanatory trials by design with strict eligibility criteria used within meta-analysis and cited trials | Yes, retrospective chart review and patient registry databases | Yes |
Methadone maintenance treatment program standards and clinical guidelines [12] | Canada | 2011 | Methadone maintenance treatment | Decrease in opioid use (relapse prevention) | Explanatory trials by design with strict eligibility criteria used within meta-analysis and cited trials | Yes | No discussion of methodology of included trials used to inform recommendations. Systematic review meta-analyses are cited. |
Methadone and buprenorphine for the management of opioid dependence [52] | UK | 2007 | Methadone and buprenorphine | Decrease in opioid use (relapse prevention) and retention | Explanatory trials by design with strict eligibility criteria used within meta-analysis and cited trials | Yes, provide evidence from systematic reviews of trials and non-randomized studies | Yes (with discussion of methodological limitations) |
Guidelines for the psychosocially assisted pharmacological treatment of opioid dependence [53] | International guidelines | 2009 | All pharmacological therapies for opioid dependence | Decrease in opioid use, treatment retention | Explanatory trials by design with strict eligibility criteria used within meta-analysis and cited trials | Yes, provide evidence from systematic reviews of trials and non-randomized studies | Yes (with discussion of methodological limitations) |