The Effect of Financial Conflict of Interest, Disclosure Status, and Relevance on Medical Research from the United States.

Background: Financial interactions between industry and healthcare providers are reportable. Substantial discrepancies have been detected between industry and self-report of these conflicts of interest (COIs).

Objective: Our aim was to determine if authors who fail to disclose reportable COI are more likely to publish findings that are favorable to industry than authors with no COI.

Clinical assessment, radiographic imaging, and patient self-report for abdominal wall hernias.

Background: Increasingly, abdominal wall hernias are being diagnosed incidentally through radiographic imaging. Such hernias are referred to as occult. However, the clinical significance of occult hernias is unknown.

The Impact of Financial Conflict of Interest on Surgical Research: An Observational Study of Published Manuscripts.

Background: Substantial discrepancies exist between industry-reported and self-reported conflicts of interest (COI). Although authors with relevant, self-reported financial COI are more likely to write studies favorable to industry sponsors, it is unknown whether undisclosed COI have the same effect. We hypothesized that surgeons who fail to disclose COI are more likely to publish findings that are favorable to industry than surgeons with no COI.

Investigation of Financial Conflict of Interest among Published Ventral Hernia Research.

Background: Discordance exists between author self-disclosure and the Open Payments Database in various surgical fields, but the effects of this discordance on study design and presentation are unknown. We hypothesized that, among ventral hernia publications, discordance exists between industry and physician self-reported conflicts of interest (COIs); authors disclose relevant COIs; and disclosure and relevant COIs affect study favorability.

Study Design: We conducted a double-blinded, prospective, observational study of published articles.

Discordance of conflict of interest self-disclosure and the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Background: The Open Payments Database (OPD) discloses financial transactions between manufacturers and physicians. The concordance of OPD versus self-reported conflicts of interest (COI) is unknown.

Materials And Methods: Our objectives were to compare (1) industry and self-disclosed COI in clinical literature, (2) payments within each disclosure level, and (3) industry- and self-disclosed COI and payments by specialty.

Impact of Abdominal Wall Hernias and Repair on Patient Quality of Life.

Background: The modified Activities Assessment Scale (AAS) is a 13-question abdominal wall quality of life (AW-QOL) survey validated in patients undergoing ventral hernia repair (VHR). No studies have assessed AW-QOL among individuals without abdominal wall pathology. The minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of the modified AAS and its implications for the threshold at which VHR should be offered also remain unknown.