Conflict of interests for radiation oncologists: Harnessing disclosures from policy to reality

Purpose: An increasing attention is being paid to disclosures of conflicts of interests in the field of oncology. The purpose of this study was to examine how radiation oncologists report their conflicts of interests with pharmaceutical or technology industries.

Materials and methods: We collected the data of conflicts of interests disclosures in the abstract books from the annual 2012 and 2013 meetings of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in Miami (FL, USA), and in Atlanta (GA, USA), respectively. Geographic origins of abstracts as well other factors were examined.

Results: We identified a total of 4219 abstracts published in the past two years. The total number of involved authors was of 28,283. All of the published abstracts had conflicts of interests disclosures. Amongst them, 563 abstracts (13.4%) reported at least one potential conflict of interests, in which 1264 (4.5%) declared a potential conflict of interests in their disclosures. Geographic distribution of abstracts with financial relationship was as following: 67.9%, 15.5%, 7.7% and 7.7% for USA, Europe, Asia/Pacifica, and Canada, respectively. Abstracts with conflict of interest originated from North America in 75.6% of cases. USA distribution was 70.6% and 29.4% for Eastern and Western, respectively.

Conclusions: The proportion of physicians declaring financial conflicts of interests remains extremely low, whichever geographic area authors are from. In comparison to the rest of the world, the US proved itself better at declaring potential links. Changes in medical culture and education could represent a significant step to improve the process of revealing conflicts of interest in medical journal as well as in international meetings.