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  • Original Article
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Industry funding and the reporting quality of large long-term weight loss trials

Abstract

Background:

Quality of reporting (QR) in industry-funded research is a concern of the scientific community. Greater scrutiny of industry-sponsored research reporting has been suggested, although differences in QR by sponsorship type have not been evaluated in weight loss interventions.

Objective:

To evaluate the association of funding source and QR of long-term obesity randomized clinical trials (RCT).

Methods:

We analysed papers that reported long-term weight loss trials. Articles were obtained through searches of Medline, HealthStar, and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register between the years 1966 and 2003. QR scores were determined for each study based upon expanded criteria from the Consolidated Standards for Reporting Trials (CONSORT) checklist for a maximum score of 44 points. Studies were coded by category of industry support (0=no industry support, 1=industry support, 2=in kind contribution from industry and 3=duality of interest reported). Individual CONSORT reporting criteria were tabulated by funding type. An independent samples t-test compared the differences in QR scores by funding source and the Wilcox–Mann–Whitney test and generalised estimating equations (GEE) were used for sensitivity analyses.

Results:

Of the 63 RCTs evaluated, 67% were industry-supported trials. Industry funding was associated with higher QR score in long-term weight loss trials compared with nonindustry-funded studies (mean QR (s.d.): industry=27.9 (4.1), nonindustry=23.4 (4.1); P<0.0005). The Wilcox–Mann–Whitney test confirmed this result (P<0.0005). Controlling for the year of publication and whether the paper was published before the CONSORT statement was released in the GEE regression analysis, the direction and magnitude of effect were similar and statistically significant (P=0.035). Of the individual criteria that prior research has associated with biases, industry funding was associated with greater reporting of intent-to-treat analysis (P=0.0158), but was not different from nonindustry studies in reporting of treatment allocation and blinding.

Conclusion:

Our findings suggest that the efforts to improve reporting quality be directed to all obesity RCTs, irrespective of funding source.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr Stacey Cofield for her helpful comments on the statistical analysis. OT participated in the coding of the data, helped to interpret the results, and participated in drafting the paper. LT, JD and RC collected the initial sample of studies, coded the QR scores, advised on the conduct of analyses, and edited the paper. AW participated in the data analysis and interpretation of results.DBA conceived the project, participated in the coding of the data, analysed the data and led the writing of the paper. This research was supported in part by NIH grant P30DK056336.

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Correspondence to D B Allison.

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LT is the clinical trials mentor for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. DBA has received grants, honoraria, consulting fees and donations from numerous food, pharmaceutical and other companies as well as nonprofit organizations and government agencies with interests in obesity-related issues. Ethical approval is not required.

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Thomas, O., Thabane, L., Douketis, J. et al. Industry funding and the reporting quality of large long-term weight loss trials. Int J Obes 32, 1531–1536 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2008.137

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