Methodology used in the current guidance

As with previous versions, the literature had been reviewed to inform updates and changes. In addition, the polypharmacy group used the considered judgement process, the detail of which can be found in Methods for deriving evidence-based guidance, below. The table below summarises the relevance of the recommendations made and will support the sections that follow.

 

Considered judgement options

Judgement	Recommendation	Wording for judgement
Undesirable consequences clearly outweigh desirable consequences	Strong recommendation against	Should
Undesirable consequences probably outweigh desirable consequences	Conditional recommendation against	Could
Balance between desirable and undesirable consequences is closely balanced or uncertain	Recommendation for research and possibly conditional recommendation for use restricted to trials	Consider
Desirable consequences clearly outweigh undesirable consequences	Strong recommendation for	Should
Desirable consequences probably outweigh undesirable consequences	Conditional recommendation for	Could

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Further evidence search information:

Additional scoping searches