Family Practice Vol. 18, No. 6, 565-568
© Oxford University Press 2001
Original Paper |
The association between funding by commercial interests and study outcome in randomized controlled drug trials
Family Medicine Unit (Kiryat Hayovel Community Health Centre), Department of Social Medicine, Hadassah Medical Organization, and the Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine of the Hebrew University and Hadassah, PO Box 1172, Jerusalem, Israel 91010.
Dr John Yaphe, Department of Family Medicine, Rabin Medical Centre (Beilinson Campus), Petah Tiqva 49100, Israel.
Background. Previous studies limited to specific drugs or journal types have shown an association between the source of funding of research and the published results.
Objective. The aim of the present study was to determine the association between source of support of research and published outcomes of randomized controlled drug trials in general interest medical journals.
Methods. Randomized controlled drug trials (n = 314) published in five general interest medical journals over a 2-year period were reviewed. Study outcome was classified as positive or negative. Support was classified as pharmaceutical industry or non-industry. Association between source of support and outcome was tested with the chi-squared statistic.
Results. Positive findings were found in 77% of studies, negative findings in 20% and an uncertain outcome in 3%. Support from commercial sources was found in 68% of trials. Negative findings were found in 13% of industry-supported studies and in 35% of non-industry-supported studies (chi-squared = 18.36, P < 0.0001, odds ratio = 3.54, 95% confidence interval 1.90–6.62).
Conclusions. An association was found between the source of study support and the published outcome. Though the reason for this association cannot be determined from the data collected, future studies may clarify the importance of this finding for readers concerned with the relationship of funding bodies to the publication of research outcomes.
Keywords. Publication bias, randomized controlled trials.
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