Transparent criteria expose potential bias in clinical guidelines

With the explicit criteria provided by the College of Family Physicians of Canada in the July issue,¹ family medicine continues to lead the way in improving the quality, relevance, and usefulness of clinical practice guidelines for practitioners and their patients.² The emphasis on transparency and full disclosure of funding sources will help expose potential bias. The American Academy of Family Physicians pioneered these principles in 1994 by publishing the first international call for explicit declaration of conflicts of interest in the development of clinical practice guidelines.³

• Copyright © the College of Family Physicians of Canada