Information provided in the guidelines: A) Conflict of interest statements and primary topics. B) Sponsorship information.
| A) | ||
| CONFLICT OF INTEREST AND PRIMARY TOPIC | ALL GUIDELINES, N (%)*(N = 196) | ALL GUIDELINES EXCLUDING SUBSECTIONS,† N (%)*(N = 119) |
| Conflict of interest statement | ||
| • In guideline | 61 (31.1) | 28 (23.5) |
| • Separate website | 9 (4.6) | 9 (7.6) |
| • Not provided | 126 (64.3) | 82 (68.9) |
| Primary topic of guideline | ||
| • Public health | 42 (21.4) | 15 (12.6) |
| • Infectious disease | 37 (18.9) | 8 (6.7) |
| • Pediatrics | 20 (10.2) | 20 (16.8) |
| • Neurology | 11 (5.6) | 5 (4.2) |
| • Cardiology | 10 (5.1) | 10 (8.4) |
| • Oncology | 9 (4.6) | 9 (7.6) |
| • Pulmonology | 9 (4.6) | 9 (7.6) |
| • Endocrinology | 8 (4.1) | 8 (6.7) |
| • Obstetrics and gynecology | 8 (4.1) | 8 (6.7) |
| • Psychiatry | 6 (3.1) | 6 (5.0) |
| • Nonspecific | 26 (13.3) | 11 (9.2) |
| • Other‡ | 10 (5.1) | 10 (8.4) |
| B) | ||
| TYPE OF SPONSOR | ALL GUIDELINES, N (%)* TOTAL NO. OF SPONSORS, N = 446§|| | ALL GUIDELINES EXCLUDING SUBSECTIONS, N (%) TOTAL NO. OF SPONSORS, N = 236§|| |
| Foundation or charity | 12 (2.7) | 12 (5.1) |
| Government | 147 (32.9) | 91 (38.6) |
| Society or association | 77 (17.3) | 65 (27.5) |
| Professional body | 14 (3.1) | 14 (5.9) |
| Medical industry | 177 (39.7) | 41 (17.4) |
| Other | 18 (4.0) | 12 (5.1) |
| Unclear | 1 (0.2) | 1 (0.4) |
↵* Percentages do not add to 100 owing to rounding.
↵† Four guidelines filed each of their subsections (6 to 29 subsections for each) as separate guidelines. In a secondary analysis, these subsections were eliminated.
↵‡ Other category includes gastroenterology (n = 3), geriatrics (n = 2), hematology (n = 2), nephrology (n = 1), rheumatology and sports medicine (n = 1), and urology (n = 1).
↵§ Numbers of guideline sponsors represent the total number of sponsors. Some guidelines had up to 16 sponsors with multiple sponsors of the same type (eg, an individual guideline might have 2 different government-related sponsors, 5 sponsors from different societies or associations, and 5 different sponsors from the same industry).
↵|| Mean number of sponsors (range) for all guidelines was 2.3 (1–16) and for all guidelines excluding subsections was 2 (1–16).