Reporting of conflicts of interest and of sponsorship of guidelines in anaesthesiology. A cross-sectional study

Guideline recommendations may be biased due to conflicts of interest (COI) of panel members and sponsorship of the guideline. Potential impact of COI, and their management, should be transparently reported. We analysed 110 guidelines published in ten anaesthesia journals from 2007 to June 2018. We r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one Vol. 14; no. 2; p. e0212327
Main Authors:	Wyssa, Damien, Tramèr, Martin R, Elia, Nadia
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 27-02-2019 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Analysis Anesthesia Anesthesiology - ethics Anesthesiology - standards Anesthetics Chairpersons Conflict of Interest Corporate sponsorship Cross-Sectional Studies Decision making Disclosure - ethics Disclosure of information Ethical aspects Financial Support Health aspects Humans Medicine and Health Sciences Practice Guidelines as Topic - standards Public relations Research and Analysis Methods Social Sciences
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Summary:	Guideline recommendations may be biased due to conflicts of interest (COI) of panel members and sponsorship of the guideline. Potential impact of COI, and their management, should be transparently reported. We analysed 110 guidelines published in ten anaesthesia journals from 2007 to June 2018. We report on the number (%) that 1) published COI disclosures; 2) in a distinct paragraph; 3) described and explained the COI of panel members, and 4) of the Chairperson; 5) reported and described the presence or absence and potential impact of a sponsor of the guideline on the recommendations; and 6) reported how COI were managed. COI were published in 70/110 (64%) guidelines; in a distinct paragraph in 25/70 (36%). Panel members reported having no COI in 27/70 (39%) guidelines, disclosed COI without describing their potential impact in 41/70 (59%), and described their potential impact in 2/70 (3%). Chairpersons were identified in 50 guidelines, 32 of which published COI disclosures; 16/32 (50%) reported having no COI, 14/32 (44%) disclosed COI without describing their potential impact, 1/32 (3%) described their impact and 1/32 (3%) made no statement regarding COI. Presence or absence of a sponsor of the guideline was reported in 40 guidelines; 12/40 (30%) declared none, 24/40 (60%) reported sponsoring without explanation of the potential impact, and 4/40 (10%) described the potential influence of the sponsor on the guideline recommendations. Seventy-five guidelines reported COI of panel members and/or sponsorship of the guideline but only seven described how the COI had been managed. Disclosures of COI of panel members and of sponsors of guidelines have increased over the 12 year period, but remain insufficiently described and their potential influence on the guidelines' recommendations is poorly documented.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Competing Interests: Martin R Tramèr is the Editor in Chief and Nadia Elia is methods Editor of the European Journal of Anaesthesiology (EJA) which is one of the journals analysed in this study. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0212327