Financial conflicts of interest in systematic reviews: associations with results, conclusions, and methodological quality

Ref ID 99
First Author C. Hansen
Journal COCHRANE DATABASE OF SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS
Year Of Publishing 2019
URL https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.MR000047.pub2/full
Keywords Cochrane
Author
Allegiance
General medical
Problem(s) Financial conflicts of interest of review authors
Number of systematic reviews included 1010
Summary of Findings From ten studies of 1010 included systematic reviews. Systematic reviews with financial conflicts of interest more often had favourable conclusions compared with systematic reviews without (RR: 1.98, 95% CI: 1.26 to 3.11; based on seven studies of 411 systematic reviews). Similar results were found in two studies with a matched design, which therefore had a reduced risk of confounding. Systematic reviews with financial conflicts of interest tended to have lower methodological quality compared with systematic reviews without financial conflicts of interest (RR for 11 dimensions of methodological quality spanned from 1.00 to 1.83). Similar results were found in analyses based on two studies with matched designs. The estimated treatment effect was not statistically significantly different for systematic reviews with and without financial conflicts of interest (Z-score: 0.46, P value: 0.64; based on one study of 14 systematic reviews which had a matched design, comparing otherwise similar systematic reviews).
Did the article find that the problem(s) led to qualitative changes in interpretation of the results? No
Are the methods of the article described in enough detail to replicate the study? Yes