GRADE equity guidelines 1: considering health equity in GRADE guideline development: introduction and rationale

OBJECTIVES This article introduces the rationale and methods for explicitly considering health equity in the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology for development of clinical, public health, and health system guidelines. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING We searched for guideline methodology articles, conceptual articles about health equity, and examples of guidelines that considered health equity explicitly. We held three meetings with GRADE Working Group members and invited comments from the GRADE Working Group listserve. RESULTS We developed three articles on incorporating equity considerations into the overall approach to guideline development, rating certainty, and assembling the evidence base and evidence to decision and/or recommendation. CONCLUSION Clinical and public health guidelines have a role to play in promoting health equity by explicitly considering equity in the process of guideline development.