Coalition members are asked to share national guidelines for scoping review

A joint study team from MORU and IDDO plans to examine current national treatment recommendations to investigate the level of variation and whether they are consistent with WHO guidelines for the pharmacological prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

The study team is asking for the help of coalition members to source the most up-to-date national treatment guidelines, which are often not available online. The team will have only a short window to conduct the search for guidelines, as therapeutic measures can change rapidly, and they wish to evaluate guidelines from a similar time frame.

The development and evaluation of new vaccines to prevent COVID-19 advanced with remarkable speed following the declaration of a global pandemic. The flood of research quickly led to evidence-based recommendations at global and national levels.

However, the therapeutics landscape for COVID-19 has not seen the same volume or strength of evidence published or shared to inform treatment policy and clinical guidance.

There are now more than 3000 clinical trials registered to study pharmaceutical interventions for COVID-19. While many of these trials have been completed, few have been published. In the absence of available evidence, national treatment guidelines and practices have varied widely, often based on pre-clinical findings or anecdotal evidence.

“While many of the 3000+ clinical trials registered for COVID-19 therapeutics have been completed, few have been published. ” 

Clinicians need evidence-based recommendations developed using accepted methods. Given the urgency at early stages of the pandemic, WHO guidelines may have been the only source of direction available for health authorities and clinicians, especially in LMICs. As the pandemic evolved, so did WHO guidelines and national measures to fight the health emergency.

The MORU-IDDO team aims to explore current national recommendations, with the following inclusion and exclusion criteria:

• Included are:
  • Guidelines that mention specific pharmacological treatments/interventions for COVID-19, defined by disease severity (i.e., non-severe, severe or critical patients
• Excluded are:
  • Regional or local hospital COVID-19 treatment guidelines
  • Vaccination guidelines
  • Treatment for complications of COVID-19 (e.g., sepsis, thromboembolism, etc.)

If you can help by providing your country’s current national therapeutics guidelines for COVID-19, please email covidguidelinereview@gmail.com with the guidelines attached or link shared, and COVID-19 guidelines in the subject heading.

Thank you in advance for your help!