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Reporting of Financial Relationships in Primary Studies Included in Systematic Reviews of Interventions for Common
Marek Czajkowski1, Louise Olsson2
1School of Medical Sciences, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden; Avesta Medical Centre, Avesta, Sweden.
Objective:
Although systematic reviews (SRs) are recommended to report authors' financial disclosures and funding sources from primary studies, the completeness of such reporting is not well known. This study examines the reporting of financial disclosures in primary studies included in SRs of interventions for six common conditions of public health importance.
Methods:
In this cross-sectional methodological study, all primary studies included in 17 previously identified SRs with low risk of bias were retrieved. Declarations of financial conflicts of interest (COI), industry funding, and authors' industry affiliation were extracted from the primary studies and compared with reporting in the SRs. The SRs were stratified according to the disclosure status of financial COI among their authors.
Results:
Out of 300 identified randomized controlled trials (RCTs), financial COI were declared by at least one author in 131 (44%), but none were reported in the SRs. Industry funding was declared in 185 (62%) RCTs and reported for 112 (37%) in the SRs. At least one author was affiliated with industry in 141 (47%) RCTs and reported for 2 (1%) RCTs in the SRs. Altogether, 206 (69%) RCTs declared any form of financial relationship with industry compared with 113 (38%) reported in the SRs. SRs with at least one author declaring financial COI included a higher proportion of RCTs declaring any financial relationship with industry (82% vs 51%).
Conclusions:
Financial COI in RCTs were not reported in this sample of clinically relevant SRs, and funding information was also inadequately reported. This methodological shortcoming hinders readers' ability to fully assess the findings of the SRs.
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