Poor reporting of search strategy and conflict of interest in over 250 narrative and systematic reviews of two biologic agents in arthritis: a systematic review

Ref ID 384
First Author A. K. Roundtree
Journal JOURNAL OF CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
Year Of Publishing 2009
URL https://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(08)00216-3/fulltext
Keywords • Rheumatology
• Low reporting quality
• Disclosure
Problem(s) • Financial conflicts of interest of review authors
• Funding or sponsor of systematic review not reported
• Conflict of interest statement or disclosures for review authors missing
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country United States
Checklists • QUOROM
Aim To assess the reporting quality (QUOROM) of reviews about etanercept and infliximab, two biologic treatments for rheumatoid arthritis from a sample of reviews from multiple databases that were published between 1994 and 2005.
Level of Investigation Descriptive
Summary of Findings Of the 26 included systematic reviews only 35% met 10 or more QUOROM criteria. 19% of the systematic reviews reported funding from grants and/or industry. 42% of systematic reviews reported conflicts of interest from consulting, grants, honoraria and industry employment. The sample includes a larger analysis including 255 narrative reviews. Very frequently, the reviews were authored by individuals who had conflicts of interest, many of whom failed to disclose their conflict
Number of systematic reviews included 26
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 3620
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description