Financial Conflicts of Interest

Lopez, Joseph; Lopez, Sandra; Means, Jessica; Mohan, Raja; Soni, Ashwin; Milton, Jacqueline N.; Tufaro, Anthony P.; May, James W.; Dorafshar, Amir H.

doi:10.1097/prs.0000000000001718

Cited by 55 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Conversely, chairs and chiefs had the lowest engagement among leadership holders. This may be due to limited time, competing interests, and the concern of the perception of bias that occurs when physicians accept industry contributions [3,31,32]. Our findings also suggest that women receive significantly smaller total sums for speaker sponsorship than their male peers.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 65%

“…The current climate of government austerity and reduced institutional funding [1] has augmented reliance on industry sponsorship as a means for research and innovation. Industrysurgeon collaborations can create opportunities that encourage scholarly impact, recognition, and invited speaker engagements [2][3][4]. For example, research funding has been shown to positively impact scholarly productivity [5][6][7], whereas sponsored speakerships reflect a surgeon's expertise and status as a key opinion leader [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Follow the money: Investigating gender disparity in industry payments among senior academics and leaders in plastic surgery

et al. 2020

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Introduction Differences in academic qualifications are cited as the reason behind the documented gender gap in industry sponsorship to academic plastic surgeons. Gendered imbalances in academic metrics narrow among senior academic plastic surgeons. However, it is unknown whether this gender parity translates to industry payments. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of industry payments disbursed to plastic surgeons in 2018. Inclusion criteria encompassed (i) faculty with the rank of professor or a departmental leadership position. Exclusion criteria included faculty (i) who belonged to a speciality besides plastic surgery; (ii) whose gender could not be determined; or (iii) whose name could not be located on the Open Payment Database. Faculty and title were identified using departmental listings of ACGME plastic surgery residency programs. We extracted industry payment data through the Open Payment Database. We also collected details on H-index and time in practice. Statistical analysis included odds ratios (OR) and Pearson’s correlation coefficient (R). Results We identified 316 senior academic plastic surgeons. The cohort was predominately male (88%) and 91% held a leadership role. Among departmental leaders, women were more likely to be an assistant professor (OR 3.9, p = 0.0003) and heads of subdivision (OR 2.1, p = 0.0382) than men. Industry payments were distributed equally to male and female senior plastic surgeons except for speakerships where women received smaller amounts compared to their male counterparts (median payments of $3,675 vs $7,134 for women and men respectively, p<0.0001). Career length and H-index were positively associated with dollar value of total industry payments (R = 0.17, p = 0.0291, and R = 0.14, p = 0.0405, respectively). Conclusion Disparity in industry funding narrows at senior levels in academic plastic surgery. At higher academic levels, industry sponsorship may preferentially fund individuals based on academic productivity and career length. Increased transparency in selection criteria for speakerships is warranted.

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Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 65%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Follow the money: Investigating gender disparity in industry payments among senior academics and leaders in plastic surgery

et al. 2020

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“…Some published reports have demonstrated that studies with COI as compared to studies with no COI are more likely to report favorable outcomes. Researchers with conflicts were more likely to selectively choose parameters that produce better results and to report larger magnitudes of differences versus researchers with no COI 5,17,18 . However, the effects of unreported COI on study results are currently unknown.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Self-disclosed conflicts-of-interest (COI) have been associated with the publication of favorable articles, defined as articles conveying a positive impression of a product produced by a company having an affiliation with at least 1 author. This bias influences the opinions and decisions of healthcare providers and patients 1,2,3,4,5 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discordance of conflict of interest self-disclosure and the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services

Cherla

Olavarria

Holihan

et al. 2017

Journal of Surgical Research

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BACKGROUND The Open Payments Database (OPD) discloses financial transactions between manufacturers and physicians. The concordance of OPD- versus self-reported COI is unknown. MATERIALS AND METHODS Our objectives were to compare 1) industry and self-disclosed COI in clinical literature, 2) payments within each disclosure level, and 3) industry- and self-disclosed COI and payments by specialty. This was an observational study. PubMed was searched for clinical studies accepted for publication from 1/2014 to 6/2016. Author and OPD-disclosed COI were compared. Articles and authors were divided into Full Disclosure; Incomplete Industry Disclosure; Incomplete Self-Disclosure; and No COI. Primary outcome (differences in reported COI per manuscript) was assessed using McNemar’s test. Payment differences were compared using Kruskal-Wallis Test. RESULTS OPD- and self-disclosed COI differed (65.0% discordance rate by manuscript, p<0.001). Percentages of authors within each disclosure category differed between specialties (p<0.001). Hematology manuscripts exhibited the highest discordance rate (79.0%) and received the highest median payment for Incomplete Self-Disclosure ($30,812). CONCLUSIONS Significant discordance exists between self- and OPD-reported COI. Additional research is needed to determine reasons for these differences.

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“…The “funding effect” has been reported across a number of fields, including pharmaceuticals [ 8 ], chemical toxicology [ 9 ], tobacco [ 10 ], surgery [ 11 ], mobile phones [ 12 ], nutrition [ 13 ], and biotechnology. Diels et al (2011) examined research on genetically modified crops and found that “COIs through professional affiliations or direct research funding are likely to influence the final outcome of such studies in the commercial interest of the involved industry [ 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conflicts of interest among committee members in the National Academies’ genetically engineered crop study

Krimsky

Schwab

2017

PLoS ONE

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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) publishes numerous reports each year that are received with high esteem by the scientific community and public policy makers. The NASEM has internal standards for selecting committee members that author its reports, mostly from academia, and vetting conflicts of interest. This study examines whether there were any financial conflicts of interest (COIs) among the twenty invited committee members who wrote the 2016 report on genetically engineered (GE) crops. Our results showed that six panel members had one or more reportable financial COIs, none of which were disclosed in the report. We also report on institutional COIs held by the NASEM related to the report. The difference between our findings and the NASEM reporting standards are discussed.

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Financial Conflicts of Interest

Abstract: Investigators with a financial conflict of interest are significantly more likely to publish plastic surgery studies with a positive conclusion compared with investigators with no conflicts of interest.

Cited by 55 publications

References 39 publications

Follow the money: Investigating gender disparity in industry payments among senior academics and leaders in plastic surgery

Follow the money: Investigating gender disparity in industry payments among senior academics and leaders in plastic surgery

Discordance of conflict of interest self-disclosure and the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services

Conflicts of interest among committee members in the National Academies’ genetically engineered crop study

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