. 2024 Jun;177(6):782-790.

doi: 10.7326/M23-3274. Epub 2024 May 14.

Reporting Conflicts of Interest and Funding in Health Care Guidelines: The RIGHT-COI&F Checklist

Affiliations

¹ School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Gansu, and School of Population Medicine and Public Health, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China (Y.X.).
² School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Gansu, China, and Institute of Global Health, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland (J.E.).
³ Clinical Research Institute, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon (J.K.).
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, University of Antioquia, and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Clínica Las Americas-AUNA, Medellin, Colombia, and School of Rehabilitation Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (I.D.F.).
⁵ Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact (HEI), McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (G.H.G., H.J.S.).
⁶ Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon (S.L.N.).
⁷ Clinical Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea (M.S.L.).
⁸ Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation, Iwaki City, Fukushima, Japan (A.O.).
⁹ American College of Physicians, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (A.Q.).
¹⁰ School of Population Medicine and Public Health, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China (R.S.).
¹¹ School of Basic Medical Sciences, Research Unit of Evidence Based Evaluation and Guidelines, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2021RU017), Lanzhou University, and WHO Collaborating Centre for Guideline Implementation and Knowledge Translation, Gansu, China (Y.C.).
¹² Department of Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon (E.A.A.).

PMID: 38739919
PMCID: PMC7616250
DOI: 10.7326/M23-3274

Reporting Conflicts of Interest and Funding in Health Care Guidelines: The RIGHT-COI&F Checklist

Yangqin Xun et al. Ann Intern Med. 2024 Jun.

. 2024 Jun;177(6):782-790.

doi: 10.7326/M23-3274. Epub 2024 May 14.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Gansu, and School of Population Medicine and Public Health, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China (Y.X.).
² School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Gansu, China, and Institute of Global Health, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland (J.E.).
³ Clinical Research Institute, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon (J.K.).
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, University of Antioquia, and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Clínica Las Americas-AUNA, Medellin, Colombia, and School of Rehabilitation Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (I.D.F.).
⁵ Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact (HEI), McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (G.H.G., H.J.S.).
⁶ Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon (S.L.N.).
⁷ Clinical Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea (M.S.L.).
⁸ Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation, Iwaki City, Fukushima, Japan (A.O.).
⁹ American College of Physicians, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (A.Q.).
¹⁰ School of Population Medicine and Public Health, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China (R.S.).
¹¹ School of Basic Medical Sciences, Research Unit of Evidence Based Evaluation and Guidelines, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2021RU017), Lanzhou University, and WHO Collaborating Centre for Guideline Implementation and Knowledge Translation, Gansu, China (Y.C.).
¹² Department of Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon (E.A.A.).

PMID: 38739919
PMCID: PMC7616250
DOI: 10.7326/M23-3274

Abstract

Background: Conflicts of interest (COIs) of contributors to a guideline project and the funding of that project can influence the development of the guideline. Comprehensive reporting of information on COIs and funding is essential for the transparency and credibility of guidelines.

Objective: To develop an extension of the Reporting Items for practice Guidelines in HealThcare (RIGHT) statement for the reporting of COIs and funding in policy documents of guideline organizations and in guidelines: the RIGHT-COI&F checklist.

Design: The recommendations of the Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research (EQUATOR) network were followed. The process consisted of registration of the project and setting up working groups, generation of the initial list of items, achieving consensus on the items, and formulating and testing the final checklist.

Setting: International collaboration.

Participants: 44 experts.

Measurements: Consensus on checklist items.

Results: The checklist contains 27 items: 18 about the COIs of contributors and 9 about the funding of the guideline project. Of the 27 items, 16 are labeled as policy related because they address the reporting of COI and funding policies that apply across an organization's guideline projects. These items should be described ideally in the organization's policy documents, otherwise in the specific guideline. The remaining 11 items are labeled as implementation related and they address the reporting of COIs and funding of the specific guideline.

Limitation: The RIGHT-COI&F checklist requires testing in real-life use.

Conclusion: The RIGHT-COI&F checklist can be used to guide the reporting of COIs and funding in guideline development and to assess the completeness of reporting in published guidelines and policy documents.

Primary funding source: The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M23-3274.

Figures

**Figure 1**
The four steps of developing the RIGHT-COI&F checklist. COI, conflict(s) of interest

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. World Health Organization. WHO handbook for guideline development. 2nd. World Health Organization; 2014.
1. Akl EA, Hakoum M, Khamis A, et al. A framework is proposed for defining, categorizing, and assessing conflicts of interest in health research. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 2022;149:236–243. - PubMed
1. The Lancet. Managing conflicts of interests in clinical guidelines. Lancet. 2019;394(10200):710. - PubMed
1. Brax H, Fadlallah R, Al-Khaled L, et al. Association between physicians’ interaction with pharmaceutical companies and their clinical practices: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2017;12(4):e0175493. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0175493. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Norris SL, Burda BU, Holmer HK, et al. Author’s specialty and conflicts of interest contribute to conflicting guidelines for screening mammography. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 2012;65(7):725–733. - PubMed

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Reporting Conflicts of Interest and Funding in Health Care Guidelines: The RIGHT-COI&F Checklist

Affiliations

Reporting Conflicts of Interest and Funding in Health Care Guidelines: The RIGHT-COI&F Checklist

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources