BACKGROUND: Financial interactions between industry and healthcare providers are reportable. Substantial discrepancies have been detected between industry and selfreport of these conflicts of interest (COIs). OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to determine if authors who fail to disclose reportable COI are more likely to publish findings that are favorable to industry than authors with no COI. DESIGN: In this blinded, observational study of medical and surgical primary research articles in PubMed, 590 articles were reviewed. MAIN MEASURES: Reportable financial relationships between authors and industry were evaluated. COIs were considered to have relevance if they were associated with the product(s) mentioned by an article. Primary outcome was favorability, defined as an impression favorable to the product(s) discussed by an article and determined by 3 independent, blinded clinicians for each article. Primary analysis compared Incomplete Self-Disclosure to No COI. Two-level multivariable mixed-effects ordered logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with favorability. KEY RESULTS: A 69% discordance rate existed between industry and self-report in COI disclosure. When authors failed to disclose COI, their conclusions were more likely to favor industry partners than authors without COI (favorable ratings 73% versus 62%, RR 1.18, p = < 0.001). On univariate (any COI 74% versus no COI 62%, RR 1.11, p = < 0.001) and multivariable analyses, any COI was associated with favorability. CONCLUSIONS: All financial COIs (disclosed or undisclosed, relevant or not relevant, research or nonresearch) influence whether studies report findings favorable to industry sponsors.

VHR can improve 1-year postsurgical AW-QOL to levels similar to that of the general population. The MCID of the modified AAS is 7.6 points. Patients with high baseline scores should be counseled about the lack of potential benefit in QOL from elective VHR.

Background The HERNIAscore is a ventral incisional hernia (VIH) risk assessment tool that utilizes only preoperative variables and predictable intraoperative variables. The aim of this study was to validate and modify, if needed, the HERNIAscore in an external dataset. Study Design This was a retrospective observational study of all patients undergoing resection for gastrointestinal malignancy 2011–2015 at a safety-net hospital. Primary outcome was clinical postoperative VIH. Patients were stratified into low, medium, and high risk based on HERNIAscore. A Revised HERNIAscore was formed with the addition of prior abdominal surgery as a categorical variable. Cox regression of incisional hernia with stratification by risk class was performed. Incidence rates of clinical VIH formation within each risk class were also calculated. Results 247 patents were enrolled. On Cox regression, in addition to the three variables of the HERNIAscore (BMI, incision length, and COPD), prior abdominal surgery was also predictive of VIH. The Revised HERNIAscore demonstrated improved predictive accuracy for clinical VIH. While the original HERNIAscore effectively stratified the risk of developing an incisional radiographic VIH, the Revised HERNIAscore provided a statistically significant stratification for both clinical and radiographic VIHs in this patient cohort. Conclusion We have externally validated and improved the HERNIAscore. The Revised HERNIAscore utilizes BMI, incision length, COPD, and prior abdominal surgery to predict risk of post-operative incisional hernia. Future research should assess methods to prevent incisional hernias in moderate-to-high risk patients.

No abstract