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Time trends in the reporting of conflicts of interest, funding and affiliation with industry in intensive care research: a systematic review

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Abstract

Purpose

Conflict of interest (COI) may compromise, or have the appearance of compromising, a researcher’s judgment or integrity in conducting or reporting research. We sought to assess time trends of COI and funding statement reporting in the critical care literature.

Methods

PubMed was searched by using Medical Subject Headings and the appropriate corresponding keywords: “INTENSIVE CARE UNIT” or “ICU” as a major topic. Four years in a 15-year time period (2001–2016) were arbitrarily chosen and one study month was randomly selected for each study period. Studies published during the selected months were included in the analysis.

Results

Three hundred and seventy-four studies were evaluated, including five reviews (1.3%) and ten randomized clinical trials (RCTs) (2.7%). COI statements were available in 65% of the studies and 8% had declared COI. COI statement rate, declared COI and funding statements increased over time, while the number of authors affiliated with industry and the discordance between the lack of COI statement and affiliation with industry decreased. Declared COI were more frequent in 2011–2016 as compared to 2001–2010 (OR 4.06; 95% CI 1.15–25.79) and in the higher quartile of a journal’s impact factor (OR of 16.73; 95% CI 3.28–306.20). Surprisingly, focus of the study, country of the first author and/or endorsement of the study by a trial group were not associated with COI statements.

Conclusion

Our study suggests COI reporting to have been unintuitive to most investigators and unreliable before ICMJE statements, and that strong incentives are needed to implement adequate reporting of COI.

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Abbreviations

CI:

Confidence interval

COI:

Conflict of interest

ICMJE:

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors

ICU:

Intensive care unit

IF:

Impact factor

IOM:

Institute of Medicine

IQR:

Interquartile range

RCT:

Randomized clinical trial

MESH:

Medical subject headings

OR:

Odds ratio

PRISMA:

Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses

ROC:

Receiver operating characteristic

SE:

Standard error

SR/MA:

Systematic review/meta-analysis

WAME:

World Association of Medical Editors

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical ICU, Saint-Louis University Hospital, AP-HP, 1 Avenue Claude Vellefaux, 75010, Paris, France

    Michael Darmon, Audrey De Jong, Bruna Brandao Barreto & Elie Azoulay

  2. Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris-Diderot, Sorbonne-Paris-Cité, Paris, France

    Michael Darmon, Emmanuel Weiss & Elie Azoulay

  3. ECSTRA team, Biostatistics and clinical epidemiology, UMR 1153 (center of epidemiology and biostatistic Sorbonne Paris Cité, CRESS), INSERM, Paris, France

    Michael Darmon & Elie Azoulay

  4. Faculté de Médecine, Hôpitaux universitaires de Strasbourg, Service de réanimation, Nouvel Hôpital Civil, Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA), Strasbourg, France

    Julie Helms & Charlotte Poussardin

  5. ImmunoRhumatologie Moléculaire, INSERM UMR_S1109, LabEx TRANSPLANTEX, Centre de Recherche d’Immunologie et d’Hématologie, Faculté de Médecine, Fédération Hospitalo-Universitaire (FHU) OMICARE, Fédération de Médecine Translationnelle de Strasbourg (FMTS), Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

    Julie Helms

  6. PhyMedExp, INSERM, CNRS, CHU de Montpellier, Département d’anesthésie-réanimation Saint-Eloi, Université de Montpellier, 80, avenue Augustin-Fliche, 34295, Montpellier Cedex, France

    Audrey De Jong

  7. Department of Intensive Care, Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Peter Buhl Hjortrup, Anders Granholm, Marie Warrer Petersen & Morten Hylander Moller

  8. Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Zealand University Hospital, Lykkebækvej 1, 4600, Køge, Denmark

    Peter Buhl Hjortrup & Stéphanie Sigaut

  9. Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, Beaujon University Hospital, AP-HP, Paris, France

    Emmanuel Weiss

  10. Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, Niguarda Hospital, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

    Riccardo Pinciroli

  11. Intensive Care Unit, Hospital da Mulher, Salvador, Brazil

    Bruna Brandao Barreto

Authors
  1. Michael Darmon
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  2. Julie Helms
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  3. Audrey De Jong
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  4. Peter Buhl Hjortrup
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  5. Emmanuel Weiss
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  6. Anders Granholm
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  7. Riccardo Pinciroli
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  8. Charlotte Poussardin
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  11. Bruna Brandao Barreto
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  12. Morten Hylander Moller
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  13. Elie Azoulay
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Darmon.

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Conflicts of interest

A De Jong reports personal fees from Baxter and Medtronic-Covidien, and travel reimbursements from Fresenius-Kabi, MSD France, Astellas, Pfizer and Fisher Paykel. J. Helms reports congress and travel reimbursements from Pfizer, Diagnostica Stago, MSD France, Astrazeneca and Gilead Sciences. E. Weiss reports personal fees form Baxter, MSD France and Biomerieux, and travel reimbursements from MSD France and Eumedica. M. Darmon reports having received research support from MSD and from ASTUTE medical, speaker fees from MSD, Astellas and Bristol-Myers-Squibb, support to organize educational meeting from MSD, Astellas, and Jazz Pharma and having participated to an advisory board from SANOFI-AVENTIS. M. Hylander Møller, N. Buhl Hjortrup, A. Granholm and M. Warrer Petersen declare that their department has received research grants from Fresenius Kabi, CSL Bering and Ferring Pharmaceuticals. Elie Azoulay reports having received fees for lectures from Alexion, Gilead, and Baxter. His institution and research group have received support from Fisher & Payckle, Pfizer, Ablkynx, MSD and Jazz Pharma. Other authors declare having no COI to declare.

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Darmon, M., Helms, J., De Jong, A. et al. Time trends in the reporting of conflicts of interest, funding and affiliation with industry in intensive care research: a systematic review. Intensive Care Med 44, 1669–1678 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-018-5350-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-018-5350-2

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