Class III recommendations in guidelines for cardiovascular medicine
Class III Recommendations in Guidelines for Cardiovascular Medicine |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Yazan Daaboul, M.D.; Aparna Vuppala, M.B.B.S. [2]
Overview
Class III Recommendations in Guidelines for Cardiovascular Medicine
- Class III recommendations are defined as conditions for which there is evidence and/or general agreement that the procedure or treatment is not useful/effective and in some cases may be harmful.
- Class III recommendations may be further classified according to the level of evidence (LOE):
- LOE A: Defined as evidence obtained from either multiple populations, multiple randomized clinical trials, or meta-analyses of randomized clinical trials.
- LOE B: Defined as evidence obtained from either a limited number of populations, a single randomized clinical trial, or meta-analyses of non-randomized studies.
- LOE C: Defined as evidence obtained from either a very limited number of populations, consensus opinion of experts, case studies, or standard of care.
- LOE A: Defined as evidence obtained from either multiple populations, multiple randomized clinical trials, or meta-analyses of randomized clinical trials.
- Class III recommendations may also be classified according to the reasoning behind the development of the recommendation, which may be due to evidence of no benefit or due to evidence of harm.
- The following class III recommendations include the most recent guidelines in cardiovascular medicine published by American cardiology societies.