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. 2017 Apr 18;189(15):E553-E559.
doi: 10.1503/cmaj.160538. Epub 2016 Dec 19.

Conflicts of interest and expertise of independent commenters in news stories about medical research

Michael T M Wang  1 , Andrew Grey  2 , Mark J Bolland  1
Affiliations

Conflicts of interest and expertise of independent commenters in news stories about medical research

Michael T M Wang et al. CMAJ. .

Abstract

Background: Media coverage of medical research influences the views and behaviours of clinicians, scientists and members of the public. We examined how frequently commenters in news stories about medical research have relevant expertise and have academic and financial conflicts, how often such conflicts are reported and whether there are associations between the conflicts and the disposition of the comments toward the findings of the source research.

Methods: We analyzed 104 independent comments in news stories on original clinical research published in high-impact medical journals from Jan. 1 to Mar. 31, 2013, and 21 related journal editorials. Main outcomes were prevalence of relevant academic and clinical expertise, prevalence and reporting of academic and financial conflicts of interest, and disposition of comments toward study findings.

Results: Only 1 in 6 news stories included independent comments. Overall, 25% of commenters and 0% of editorialists had neither relevant academic nor clinical expertise (p = 0.007). Among the 104 comments, an academic conflict of interest was present for 56 (54%), of which 25 (45%) were reported in the news stories. A financial conflict of interest was present for 33 (32%) of the comments, of which 11 (33%) were reported. When commenters' conflicts of interest were congruent with the findings of the source research, 97% and 93% of comments associated with academic and financial conflicts of interest, respectively, were favourably disposed toward the research. These values were 16% and 17%, respectively, when the conflicts of interest were not congruent with the research findings.

Interpretation: Independent commenters in new stories about medical research may lack relevant academic or clinical expertise. Academic or financial conflicts of interest were frequently present among independent commenters but infrequently reported, and were often associated with the disposition of comments about the source research.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: Andrew Grey is a shareholder in Auckland Bone Density, a company that provides bone mineral density measurements. All of the authors have coauthored publications on the reporting and dissemination of clinical research findings. Andrew Grey and Mark Bolland have coauthored publications on conflicts of interest in the interpretation of clinical research findings.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Selection of source research articles published in 7 high-impact general or internal medicine journals between Jan. 1 and Mar. 31, 2013. Media news stories generated in response were identified from Factiva (https://global.factiva.com), a global news database.
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Prevalence and reporting of conflicts of interests. Top panel: Proportions of independent and editorial comments associated with financial or academic conflicts of interests. Bottom panel: Proportions of financial or academic conflicts of interest reported in news stories or editorials: light green bars indicate conflicts of interest stated explicitly, dark green bars indicate implied conflicts of interest. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.
Figure 3:
Figure 3:
Disposition of independent comments toward study results, according to congruence of associated conflicts of interest with source research findings. The congruence of the academic conflicts of interest of 2 commenters and the financial conflict of interest of 1 commenter with the results of the source research was indeterminate.
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