• Jun-Yeon Kim, Jung-Hyun Kim, Bon-Hyuk Goo, Yeon-Cheol Park, Byung-Kwan Seo, and Yong-Hyeon Baek.
• Department of Clinical Korean Medicine, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2021 Dec 23; 100 (51): e28426e28426.

IntroductionKnee osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease and its prevalence tends to increase. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are evidence-based recommendations for treatment that help policymakers, practitioners, and patients make more appropriate and efficient decisions during the course of management. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of knee osteoarthritis CPGs using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE II) instrument.MethodThe retrieval engines and websites were utilized from January 2010 to December 2020. The search words were "Clinical practice guideline" OR "Critical practice guideline" OR "guideline∗" AND "Osteoarthritis." The quality of the CPGs was independently examined by four appraisers using the AGREE II instrument. Consequently, the selected CPGs were graded as Classes A, B, and C according to the level of recommendation.ResultIn this study, 13 CPGs for knee osteoarthritis were selected and evaluated qualitatively using the AGREE II instrument. The overall quality percentage score was as follows: clarity of presentation, 72.6%, scope and purpose, 62.6%, rigor of development, 54.2%, stakeholder investment, 50.5%, editorial independence, 46.5%, applicability, 22.5%.ConclusionAuxiliary materials for the treatment process of knee OA should be supplemented in future revised versions for quality improvement of knee OA CPGs. Also, more evidence should be accumulated to support the recommendation of traditional oriental medical treatments in the clinical field. From the perspective of integrative medicine, along with conventional pharmacological treatment, exercise, weight loss, and acupuncture can be combined together in clinical situations.Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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