Strength of Evidence for Major Recommendations
| Strength of Recommendation* | |
|---|---|
| Diagnostic recommendations | |
| Relative frequencies of causes of edema in Tables 1–31,4,53 | C |
| Clinical findings that help distinguish venous edema, lymphedema, and lipidema8,9,11,12,21,22,24 | C |
| Important components of the patient history9–12,24,54 | C |
| Important components of physical exam2,9–12,22,24 | C |
| Echocardiogram recommended in patients over age 454 | C |
| Medications that cause edema4,13,14,16,17,24,55 | C |
| Normal D-dimer rules out deep vein thrombosis25,56 | B |
| Use of Doppler exam to confirm or rule out deep vein thrombosis57–59 | B |
| Treatment recommendations | |
| Diuretics to treat venous insufficiency2 | C |
| Horse chestnut seed extract to treat venous insufficiency41–44 | B |
| Compression stockings to treat venous insufficiency60 | C |
| Diuretics to treat idiopathic edema5,31,46 | C |
* Strength of recommendation classified according to the 3-component SORT system61: A, denotes recommendation based on consistent and good-quality patient-oriented evidence61; B, denotes recommendation based on inconsistent or limited-quality patient-oriented evidence61; C, denotes recommendation based on consensus, usual practice, opinion, disease-oriented evidence, or case series for studies of diagnosis, treatment, prevention, or screening.61