Summary of GRADE recommendations on rating the strength of recommendations and quality of evidence
Strength of recommendation . | Quality of evidence . | ||
---|---|---|---|
1 (“Strong”) | Desirable effects of an intervention clearly outweigh (or clearly do not outweigh) the undesirable effects | A (“High”) | Further research is unlikely to change our confidence in the estimate of effect |
2 (“Weak”) | Tradeoffs between desirable and undesirable effects are less certain (eg, because of low-quality evidence or evidence suggesting closely balanced effects) | B (“Moderate”) | Further research is likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and may change the estimate |
C (“Low”) | Further research is very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate | ||
D (“Very low”) | Any estimate of effect is very uncertain |
Strength of recommendation . | Quality of evidence . | ||
---|---|---|---|
1 (“Strong”) | Desirable effects of an intervention clearly outweigh (or clearly do not outweigh) the undesirable effects | A (“High”) | Further research is unlikely to change our confidence in the estimate of effect |
2 (“Weak”) | Tradeoffs between desirable and undesirable effects are less certain (eg, because of low-quality evidence or evidence suggesting closely balanced effects) | B (“Moderate”) | Further research is likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and may change the estimate |
C (“Low”) | Further research is very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate | ||
D (“Very low”) | Any estimate of effect is very uncertain |
Each recommendation consists of a numerical score denoting the strength of the recommendation and a letter denoting the quality of the evidence.12