These authors used data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Open Payments Program (OPP) database to analyze articles (2016-2017) in the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery for (1) discrepancies between the stated conflicts of interest and associated payments recorded in the database, (2) the magnitude and types of payments received, and (3) possible relationships between industry financial support and positive study outcomes.
They found that implant manufacturers provided $16,051,261 to authors of shoulder arthroplasty publications over the 2-year period. Approximately half of senior authors (46%) received royalty payments, more than 90% of which ($14,910,873; 93%) were reported in disclosure statements. Authors of studies that had a positive outcome received a mean of $115,610 (range, $0-$1,752,922). This was almost twice the mean of $62,306 (range, $0- $838,008) for authors of studies that had a nonpositive outcome, but this difference did not attain statistical significance (P=0.11) (see below).
Comment: This article points to the close financial relationship between authors and industry. The majority (87%) of shoulder arthroplasty publications in the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery were associated with transfers of value from the manufacturer of the implant reported in the study to the authors of the study in the year prior to publication.
Although the presence of such conflicts is usually acknowledged in a disclaimer box in the publication, the magnitude of the payments is not included. This article suggests that reporting of approximate dollar amounts directly in publications could help readers to better judge the degree of such a financial conflict of interest. Because the existence of these payments may influence the methods, results, and conclusions of the research, it would seem appropriate to list the type and magnitude of these transfers of value in the ‘‘limitations’’ section of the discussion in manuscripts
regarding shoulder arthroplasty.
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