In a Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News report, Samir Grover, MD, contends authors of endoscopy guidelines in the U.S. don't disclose conflicts of interest.
Dr. Grover is an assistant professor in the University of Toronto's department of medicine. He was part of a team that conducted studies presented at the 2019 Canadian Digestive Disease Week outlining potential undisclosed conflicts of interest.
After examining undisclosed drug maker and device company payments to the authors of 38 GI endoscopy guidelines published by the major U.S. societies from 2014 to 2017, the investigators found 21.7 percent of the authors disclosed payments. Based on data from the CMS Open Payments database, Dr. Grover found around 24 percent of authors received payments specific to co-authored guidelines that they didn't disclose.
The American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the American College of Gastroenterology both require disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest.
Dr. Grover also found potential conflict of interest in inflammatory bowel disease research articles. His teams examined authors, section editors and deputy editors and cross-referenced reported conflicts of interest with the Open Payments database from 2013 to 2016. His team reported 42 conflict of interest disclosures, including 40 that related to companies that sold products associated with the recommendation.