Minding the gaps: AGREEing to harmonise clinical guidelines to enhance healthcare and the research agenda.

Abstract

Clinical practice guidelines and consensus statements are increasingly influential in anaesthesia, perioperative medicine, pain medicine, and critical care. Despite drawing upon similar evidence bases, recommendations frequently differ across countries, professional societies, and healthcare systems. Such variation may reflect differences in methodology, evidence appraisal, resource availability, patient populations, health policy, cultural context, and stakeholder priorities. To address this challenge, the British Journal of Anaesthesia is launching a new series that will systematically compare and synthesise international guideline documents, using structured appraisal frameworks.