National Strategies for Preventing and Managing Non-communicable Diseases in Selected Countries.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide and are responsible for a high burden of disease. Many countries have developed national strategies for the management and prevention of NCDs to improve the care of chronically ill people or prevent NCDs. This article aims to provide an overview of national NCD strategies from selected countries and their implementation. The focus was on cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes type II, and depression. A comprehensive, structured hand search was conducted in various databases and websites for national strategies on the 4 NCDs. According to pre-defined criteria, 18 strategies from 8 countries (Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Finland, Ireland, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia) were selected. The included NCD strategies differ considerably in terms of level of detail, structure and implementation. All strategies include information on planned activities, but only a few provide detailed information on these interventions, including their evaluation. A structured approach from the macro to the micro level seems crucial for a comprehensive, coordinated overall policy. Strategies should be evaluated regularly using appropriate methods to measure target achievement. For the prevention and management of NCDs, it is important to start in early childhood and to adequately consider the social determinants of health with a "Health in All Policies" approach.

Assessment of public health interventions for decision support: methods & processes of the evaluation of the Austrian screening programme for pregnant women & children.

BACKGROUND: In 2010, the Austrian Ministry of Health (MoH) commissioned the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Health Technology Assessment (LBI-HTA) to prepare decision support for the reorientation of the national screening programme for pregnant women and children ("Mutter-Kind-Pass"). This is one of several reports aimed at giving an overview of recommended screening measures. METHODS: By conducting a guideline synopsis, we summarised screening recommendations from guidelines of high methodological quality. To facilitate contextualisation of the recommendations, the MoH initiated a transparent appraisal process. RESULTS: We identified 101 guidelines dealing with screenings during pregnancy and 75 guidelines providing screening recommendations for children. From 2014 to 2018, an interdisciplinary and multi-professional expert group discussed these results and formulated recommendations for a new Austrian screening programme. CONCLUSION: Following the multi-step process of Health Technology Assessment (assessment-appraisal-decision), this methodological approach bridges evidence and national expert knowledge and represents a novel path towards a new screening programme in Austria.

[Practical experience with overviews of reviews--valuable decision aid or academic exercise?]. / Praxiserfahrungen mit Overviews of Reviews--wertvolle Entscheidungsunterstützung oder wissenschaftliche Fingerübung?

The "overview of reviews" has evolved as a method to aggregate information from systematic reviews. Based on research projects conducted by two Austrian institutions, this article aims to point out methods and perceived strengths and limitations of overviews of reviews and to discuss their application and constraints for different healthcare settings. The six analysed projects differed in their objectives as well as in the corresponding methodology. We identified the following strengths of the overviews of reviews performed: the overview of the evidence base on an issue, the rapid detection of the results of numerous reviews, the demonstration of evidence gaps and potential savings in time and resources. At the same time, the methodology could lead to a loss of information, limited relevance and to uncertainties regarding the robustness of the overall results. However, the heterogeneity of the methods used shows that the development of methods for overviews of reviews is still ongoing. Whether overviews of reviews provide valuable decision support depends on the research question and realistic expectations towards the method.

Recommendations from international clinical guidelines for routine antenatal infection screening: does evidence matter?

AIM: Maternal infections in pregnancy may cause severe child morbidity. In this article, we aim to summarise recommendations from international evidence-based clinical guidelines for infection screening in pregnancy. METHODS: We conducted a systematic search for evidence-based guidelines in two databases (Guidelines International Network and National Guideline Clearinghouse) and a hand search on websites of international institutions and societies that develop evidence-based guidelines. We considered guidelines published from the 1 of January 2007 onwards and developed in Western, industrialised countries. The guidelines in our analysis had to be based on a systematic literature search in at least two databases and needed to provide recommendations explicitly linked to the evidence. We included five general antenatal clinical practice guidelines from Australia, UK and the United States and 20 disease-specific guidelines published by Canadian, German, UK and US guideline development groups. RESULTS: The comparison of evidence-based guidelines from nine different guideline development groups for 17 antenatal infection screenings showed variations in directions (pro-screening or contra-screening) as well as in grades of recommendations. Uniformly, all-pro-universal or all-contra-universal screening recommendations were identified for 10 of 17 diseases. Contradictions were primarily observed for group B streptococcus, chlamydia trachomatis, genital herpes and gonorrhoea infection screening. Whereas certainty of recommendations was high for all-pro-screening recommendations, it decreased in all-contra-screening recommendations and even displayed conflicting results for contradictory recommendations. CONCLUSION: The variety of grades of recommendations hamper across-guideline comparison. Nevertheless, the article highlights agreed screening areas based on the best available evidence as well as areas of still existing uncertainty. Local health policy decisions on whether to include or refrain from including screening measures in preventive care programmes can be facilitated by the comparison of recommendations from international evidence-based guidelines. Beyond the availability of evidence each country's health policy makers will have to make a judgement on the value of the test for a population-wide screening.