A new analysis by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine of recent cardiology clinical practice guidelines has found that more than half of the experts involved in the development of these guidelines reported a conflict of interest (COI).

“The extent of COIs in cardiology guideline production had not been well studied up to this point. Our findings that most episodes of guidelines participation involve COIs, and that most individuals involved in producing guidelines report COIs, is a cause for concern,” said corresponding author James N. Kirkpatrick, MD, assistant professor of Medicine and colleagues at Penn.  “However, the results of this study also highlight that a strong pool of experts without any COIs are available to direct the clinical practice guideline development process.”

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