Authors' Self-Declared Financial Conflicts of Interest Do Not Impact the Results of Major Cardiovascular Trials

Authors' Self-Declared Financial Conflicts of Interest Do Not Impact the Results of Major Cardiovascular Trials

Ashish Aneja, MD; Ricardo Esquitin, MD; Kshitij Shah, MD; Rupa Iyengar, MPH; Rosane Nisenbaum, PhD; Magda Melo, MSc; Shiny Matthewkutty, MD; Sanjum S. Sethi, MD; Muhammad Mamdani, PharmD; Michael E. Farkouh, MD, MSc
[+-] Author Information

The authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose.

Reprints requests and correspondence: Dr. Michael E. Farkouh, The Cardiovascular Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1074, New York, NY 10029

Copyright 2013, American College of Cardiology Foundation. All Rights Reserved.

J Am Coll Cardiol. 2013;():. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2012.10.056
Published online
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Abstract Abstract | Methods | Results | Discussion | References
Objectives This study assessed whether the results of major, potentially practice-altering cardiovascular trials were influenced by the authors' self-declared financial conflicts of interest (FCOI). Secondary objectives included assessment of trial outcomes by source of funding, by FCOI subtype, and by trial end points.

Background Financial conflicts of interest, ubiquitous in cardiovascular medicine because of significant investigator-industry collaborations, potentially can influence trial outcomes.

Methods A MEDLINE search was performed using the MeSH term cardiovascular disease limited to randomized controlled trials and clinical trials published from January 1, 2000, through April 15, 2008, in 3 high-impact journals. Two reviewers independently abstracted data from the published article. Chi-square tests, Fisher exact tests, and multivariate logistic regression were used to assess the associations between FCOI and study characteristics and between FCOI and trial outcomes.

Results Of the 550 articles reviewed, 51.1% satisfied FCOI criteria, including at least one of the following: stock ownership, employee, speaker's bureau, and consultant). Of the 538 articles providing sponsorship information, 34.6% reported funding solely by nonprofit organizations, 48.3% reported funding solely by industry, and 17.1% reported funding by a combination. Prevalence of FCOI significantly increased with level of industry funding: 21.5% (none), 50.0% (shared), 75.0% (industry solely, n = 281, p < 0.0001). However, no differences in reporting of favorable results were detected when articles were analyzed by self-declared FCOI (60.5% vs. 59.5% in those with and without, odds ratio: 1.04, p = 0.81). This result was upheld in multivariate analysis.

Conclusions Authors' self-declared FCOI and source of funding do not seem to impact outcomes in major cardiovascular clinical trials.