Evaluation of Industry Relationships Among Authors of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses Regarding Ménières Disease

Systematic reviews (SR) and meta-analyses (MA) are frequently used in the formation of clinical practice guidelines and ultimately treatment recommendations. As such, undisclosed industry ties in SRs and MAs introduce bias into the foundation of treatment guidelines potentially leading to poor recommendations. The purpose of this study was to quantify the presence of conflicts of interest (COI) in SRs and MAs of Ménières disease treatment and identify any related secondary characteristics of these articles. A cross-sectional approach was used on May 28, 2020, to search the MEDLINE and Embase databases from their inception. To meet inclusion criteria, a study must be a SR or MA pertaining to a head-to-head treatment comparison for Ménières disease. Studies must be reported in English and published between September 1, 2016 and June 2, 2020. Data extraction was conducted in a masked, duplicate fashion and included: favorability of study results/discussion, presence of author on the Open Payments Database, Pro Publicas Dollars for Profs, Google Patent, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the accuracy of COI disclosure in the included study. A risk of bias assessment was subsequently performed on the included studies according to the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias assessment criteria. A total of 13 systematic reviews conducted by 49 authors met the inclusion criteria. Analysis of these studies and authors indicated that COIs are present in authors of SRs about Meniere’s Disease; with 38.5% of reviews containing a conflict of interest and 17.75% of authors having an undisclosed COI. Approximately 1 in 5 authors of SRs regarding Ménières disease contained an undisclosed COI. Overall authors of SRs pertaining to Ménières disease appear to be properly disclosing COI at higher rates than other fields of medicine; however, further room for improvement has been noted. We recommend standardization of COI reporting across medical journals as well as improved disclosure methods in relation to international research in an effort to ensure a fully transparent and trustworthy product.