Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36690402›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2023

Financial conflicts of interest among US physician authors of 2020 clinical practice guidelines: a cross-sectional study.

Maryam Mooghali, Laura Glick, Reshma Ramachandran, Joseph S Ross

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
7.1field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
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

11 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Navigating the Prescription Drug Information System.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2026
    Review
  2. Doctors' Conflict-of-Interest; What it Looks Like and What to do About it.International journal of social determinants of health and health services · 2026
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 3 countries.

Maryam MooghaliGeneral Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9347-494X
Laura GlickDepartment of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Reshma RamachandranYale Collaboration for Regulatory Rigor, Integrity, and Transparency (CRRIT), Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-3845-3606
Joseph S RossDepartment of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA joseph.ross@yale.edu.
Yale University · US

Funding

Yale Clinical and Translational Science Award (U Component)UL1TR001863 · NCATS · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI John H. Krystal, LUCILA OHNO-MACHADO · 2016 to 2026
$102.9M
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR001863
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo evaluate the prevalence and accuracy of industry-related financial conflict of interest (COI) disclosures among US physician guideline authors.

designCross-sectional study.

settingClinical practice guidelines published by the Council of Medical Specialty Societies in 2020.

participantsUS physician guideline authors.

main outcome measuresFinancial COI disclosures, both self-reported and determined using Open Payments data.

resultsAmong 270 US physician authors of 20 clinical practice guidelines, 101 (37.4%) disclosed industry-related financial COIs, whereas 199 (73.7%) were found to have received payments from industry when accounting for payments disclosed through Open Payments. The median payments received by authors during the 3-year period was US$27 451 (IQR, US$1385-US$254 677). Comparing authors' self-disclosures with Open Payments, 72 (26.7%) of the authors accurately disclosed their financial COIs, including 68 (25.2%) accurately disclosing no financial COIs and 4 (1.5%) accurately disclosing a financial COI. In contrast, 101 (37.4%) disclosed no financial COIs and were found to have received payments from industry, 23 (8.5%) disclosed a financial COI but had under-reported payments received from industry, 14 (5.2%) disclosed a financial COI but had over-reported payments received from industry and 60 (22.2%) disclosed a financial COI but were found to have both under-reported and over-reported payments received from industry. We found that inaccurate COI disclosure was more frequent among professors compared with non-professors (81.9% vs 63.5%; p<0.001) and among males compared with females (77.7% vs 64.8%; p=0.02). The accuracy of disclosures also varied among medical professional societies (p<0.001).

conclusionsFinancial relationships with industry are common among US physician authors of clinical practice guidelines and are often not accurately disclosed. To ensure high-quality guidelines and unbiased recommendations, more effort is needed to minimise existing COIs and improve disclosure accuracy among panel members.

Indexed as

Conflict of InterestPhysiciansCross-Sectional StudiesDisclosureFemaleHumansIndustryMEDICAL ETHICSProtocols & guidelinesQuality in health care

Identifiers

PMID36690402
PMCPMC9872463
OpenAlexW4317802748

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.