IDSA Lyme Double Speak

I want to thank Mimi MacLean for featuring me on Lyme 360’s Heal podcast. Mimi…

Today, the International Lyme and Associated Diseases (ILADS) has published its revised guidelines on treating Lyme disease! Too many patients fail the standard courses of antibiotics most doctors follow for treating tick bites and EM rashes. LymeDisease.org endorses new guidelines that offer a different approach. The guidelines are both evidence-based and patient-centered. I was a patient representative on the guidelines and one of the three authors.

Now that two studies have shown that IDSA guidelines are generally long on opinion and short on evidence, what should the IDSA guideline panel do? The study by Lee, discussed in yesterday's blog, found that IDSA frequently makes strong recommendations, but that these strong recommendations are supported by strong evidence only 15% of the time. Dr. Maloney found that the majority of recommendations in the IDSA Lyme guidelines were based on the weakest level of evidence–expert opinion. Shouldn't clinical judgment only be suppressed when there is strong evidence? That's what the American Academy of Pediatrics says in its guidelines on making guidelines.

Please refer back to this site for new post on the hearings

On Monday, February 1, 2010, the Connecticut Attorney General sent a letter to the IDSA expressing “concern” over “improper voting procedures” used by the IDSA in the Lyme guidelines review voting process. The IDSA may soon approve hearing determinations based on this improper voting procedure. The Attorney General requested that the IDSA redo the vote to comply with the Settlement Agreement. The four-page Attorney General letter was released in response to a Freedom of Information Request made on behalf of patient groups for information regarding the IDSA’s compliance with the Settlement Agreement.