{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]],"date-time":"2026-09-02T08:17:11Z","timestamp":1788337031979,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]],"date-time":"2026-09-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788307200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":1,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788220800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Medical Journal of Australia"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Long\u2010term and chronic health conditions are associated with a significant burden of disease and economic impact in Australia. Although improving health outcomes requires a multifactorial approach, up\u2010to\u2010date clinical guidelines can optimise healthcare delivery by providing clinicians with evidence\u2010based, actionable recommendations. We aimed to determine the currency and key methodological characteristics of national clinical guidelines published in Australia and focussed on areas of highest prevalence and burden of disease.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Study Design and Setting<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We conducted a cross\u2010sectional analysis by searching PubMed, the Guidelines International Network International Guidelines Library and Australian college and society websites in July 2025 for national clinical guidelines in the five areas of highest prevalence and burden of disease, as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, respectively. Information and metrics relating to time since publication, time since last evidence search and methods and processes (e.g., reporting of clinical questions and Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome [PICO] criteria and approval of the guideline by the National Health and Medical Research Council [NHMRC]) were tabulated and analysed.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Thirty\u2010one guidelines published between 2002 and 2025 were identified, with most relating to diabetes or mental health. The mean times since publication and last search date were 8.6 and 9.8\u2009years, respectively. Most provided details regarding clinical questions (77%), PICO criteria (61%), search strategies (68%) and other methodological considerations, however, fewer than half used Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) to assess certainty of evidence or provided details regarding conflicts of interest (48% each). Of the 18 guidelines approved by the NHMRC, five were developed within the previous 5\u2009years and remain approved.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>For most high\u2010priority clinical conditions in Australia, there are no up\u2010to\u2010date evidence\u2010based guidelines available to support clinical decision\u2010making. Guideline developers and funders should invest more energy and resources into planning for updates and ensuring that methods and processes are optimised to facilitate this, such as considering a living approach.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.5694\/mja2.70288","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]],"date-time":"2026-09-02T07:39:18Z","timestamp":1788334758000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Time for an Update: The Currency of Clinical Guidelines in\u00a0Australia\u2014A Cross\u2010Sectional Analysis"],"prefix":"10.5694","volume":"224","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4147-5278","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Heath","family":"White","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Monash University  Melbourne Victoria Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ethan","family":"Fernandes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Monash University  Melbourne Victoria Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kristina","family":"Peduru\u2010Arachchige","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Monash University  Melbourne Victoria Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tari","family":"Turner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Monash University  Melbourne Victoria Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Steven","family":"McGloughlin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Monash University  Melbourne Victoria Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2832-5205","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Steve","family":"McDonald","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Monash University  Melbourne Victoria Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_11_2_1","unstructured":"Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) \u201cHealth Conditions Prevalence (Reference Period 2022) \u201d2023 accessed May 22 2025 https:\/\/www.abs.gov.au\/statistics\/health\/health\u2010conditions\u2010and\u2010risks\/health\u2010conditions\u2010prevalence\/2022."},{"key":"e_1_2_11_3_1","unstructured":"Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) \u201cAustralian Burden of Disease Study 2024 \u201d2024 accessed May 22 2025 https:\/\/www.aihw.gov.au\/reports\/burden\u2010of\u2010disease\/australian\u2010burden\u2010of\u2010disease\u2010study\u20102024\/contents\/interactive\u2010data\u2010on\u2010disease\u2010burden."},{"key":"e_1_2_11_4_1","unstructured":"Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) \u201cHealth Expenditure Australia 2022\u201323 \u201d2024 accessed May 27 2025 https:\/\/www.aihw.gov.au\/reports\/health\u2010welfare\u2010expenditure\/health\u2010expenditure\u2010australia\u20102022\u201023\/contents\/spending\u2010trends\u2010by\u2010source\/government\u2010sources\u2010australian\u2010government\u2010spending."},{"key":"e_1_2_11_5_1","unstructured":"Australian Government Department of Health Disability and Ageing (DoH) \u201cModernising My Health Record\u2014Improved Sharing of Pathology and Diagnostic Imaging Information \u201d2025 accessed August 27 2025 https:\/\/www.digitalhealth.gov.au\/national\u2010digital\u2010health\u2010strategy\/outcomes\/digitally\u2010enabled."},{"key":"e_1_2_11_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2050312118769211"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_7_1","volume-title":"Clinical Practice Guidelines we Can Trust","author":"IOM (Institute of Medicine)","year":"2011"},{"issue":"16","key":"e_1_2_11_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1211","DOI":"10.1503\/cmaj.140547","article-title":"The Validity of Recommendations From Clinical Guidelines: A Survival Analysis","volume":"186","author":"Mart\u00ednez Garc\u00eda L.","year":"2014","journal-title":"Canadian Medical Association Journal"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_9_1","unstructured":"Heart Foundation Australia \u201cAustralian Clinical Guideline for Diagnosing and Managing Acute Coronary Syndromes 2025 \u201daccessed July 27 2025 https:\/\/www.heartfoundation.org.au\/for\u2010professionals\/acs\u2010guideline."},{"key":"e_1_2_11_10_1","unstructured":"National Health and Medical Research Council \u201cProcedures and Requirements for Meeting the 2011 Standard for Clinical Practice Guidelines (CP133) \u201daccessed July 22 2025 https:\/\/www.nhmrc.gov.au\/about\u2010us\/publications\/meeting\u20102011\u2010nhmrc\u2010standard\u2010clinical\u2010practice\u2010guidelines."},{"issue":"7454","key":"e_1_2_11_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1490","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.328.7454.1490","article-title":"Grading Quality of Evidence and Strength of Recommendations","volume":"328","author":"Atkins D.","year":"2004","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"issue":"9","key":"e_1_2_11_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"490","DOI":"10.5694\/j.1326-5377.2010.tb03604.x","article-title":"Australian Clinical Practice Guidelines\u2014A National Study","volume":"192","author":"Buchan H. 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J.","year":"2023","journal-title":"Journal of Clinical Epidemiology"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"956","DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.19661.1","article-title":"Towards a New Model for Producing Evidence\u2010Based Guidelines: A Qualitative Study of Current Approaches and Opportunities for Innovation Among Australian Guideline Developers","volume":"8","author":"McDonald S.","year":"2019","journal-title":"F1000Res"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_18_1","volume-title":"Clinical Guideline for the Diagnosis and Management of Work\u2010Related Mental Health Conditions in General Practice","author":"Mazza D.","year":"2019"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_19_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"E.Zomer T. E.Joo J.Kim et\u00a0al. \u201cAre Living Guidelines Worth it? Economic Evaluations of National Living Clinical Guidelines for COVID\u201019 and Stroke \u201d2025 accessed July 2025 available at SSRN:https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2139\/ssrn.5382385.","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.5382385"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_20_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclinepi.2021.11.035","article-title":"Awareness, Value and Use of the Australian Living Guidelines for the Clinical Care of People With COVID\u201019: An Impact Evaluation","volume":"143","author":"Millard T.","year":"2022","journal-title":"Journal of Clinical Epidemiology"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_21_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclinepi.2025.111671","article-title":"Exploring the Use and Usefulness of Living Guidelines for Consumers: International Online Survey of Patients' and Carers' Views","volume":"180","author":"Synnot A.","year":"2025","journal-title":"Journal of Clinical Epidemiology"}],"container-title":["Medical Journal of Australia"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.5694\/mja2.70288","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.5694\/mja2.70288","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.5694\/mja2.70288","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]],"date-time":"2026-09-02T07:39:21Z","timestamp":1788334761000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.5694\/mja2.70288"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]},"references-count":20,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]}},"alternative-id":["10.5694\/mja2.70288"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5694\/mja2.70288","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["0025-729X","1326-5377"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0025-729X","type":"print"},{"value":"1326-5377","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2025-11-26","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-08-03","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-09-02","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}],"article-number":"e70288"}}