Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27251686›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2016

Conflict of interest between professional medical societies and industry: a cross-sectional study of Italian medical societies' websites.

Alice Fabbri, Giorgia Gregoraci, Dario Tedesco, Filippo Ferretti, Francesco Gilardi, Diego Iemmi, Cosima Lisi, Angelo Lorusso, Francesca Natali, Edit Shahi and 1 more

Erratum issuedAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
19citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. 'Public health nutrition · 2021
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Conflicts of interest and Scientific Societies.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2020
    Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Observational
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Alice FabbriCentre of Research in Medical Pharmacology, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Centre for International Health, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Giorgia GregoraciDepartment of Medical and Biological Sciences, Institute of Hygiene and Clinical Epidemiology, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
Dario TedescoDepartment of Biomedical and NeuroMotor Science, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy Italian Medical Residents Committee of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (S It I), Rome, Italy.
Filippo FerrettiItalian Medical Residents Committee of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (S It I), Rome, Italy Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.
Francesco GilardiItalian Medical Residents Committee of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (S It I), Rome, Italy Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
Diego IemmiItalian Medical Residents Committee of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (S It I), Rome, Italy Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Cosima LisiDepartment of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.
Angelo LorussoDepartment of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Centre for International Health, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Francesca NataliDepartment of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Centre for International Health, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Edit ShahiItalian Medical Residents Committee of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (S It I), Rome, Italy Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Alessandro RinaldiItalian Medical Residents Committee of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (S It I), Rome, Italy Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo describe how Italian medical societies interact with pharmaceutical and medical device industries through an analysis of the information available on their websites.

designCross sectional study.

settingItaly.

participants154 medical societies registered with the Italian Federation of Medical-Scientific Societies.

main outcome measuresIndicators of industry sponsorship (presence of industry sponsorship in the programme of the last medical societies' annual conference; presence of manufacturers' logos on the homepage; presence of industry sponsorship of satellite symposia during the last annual conference).

results131 Italian medical societies were considered. Of these, 4.6% had an ethical code covering relationships with industry on their websites, while 45.6% had a statute that mentioned the issue of conflict of interest and 6.1% published the annual financial report. With regard to industry sponsorship, 64.9% received private sponsorship for their last conference, 29.0% had manufacturers' logos on their webpage, while 35.9% had industry-sponsored satellite symposia at their last conference. The presence of an ethical code on the societies' websites was associated with both an increased risk of industry sponsorship of the last conference (relative risk (RR) 1.22, 95% CIs 1.01 to 1.48 after adjustment) and of conferences and/or satellite symposia (RR 1.22, 95% CIs 1.02 to 1.48 after adjustment) but not with the presence of manufacturers' logos on the websites (RR 1.79, 95% CIs 0.66 to 4.82 after adjustment). No association was observed with the other indicators of governance and transparency.

conclusionsThis survey shows that industry sponsorship of Italian medical societies' conferences is common, while the presence of a structured regulatory system is not. Disclosure of the amount of industry funding to medical societies is scarce. The level of transparency therefore needs to be improved and the whole relationship between medical societies and industry should be further disciplined in order to avoid any potential for conflict of interest.

Indexed as

Conflict of InterestInternetCross-Sectional StudiesDisclosureDrug IndustryFinancial SupportHumansItalyPhysiciansSocieties, MedicalSurveys and QuestionnairesConflict of interestMedical SocietiesPharmaceutical industry

Identifiers

PMID27251686
PMCPMC4893870

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.