Abstract
Purpose :
Preferred practice patterns (PPPs) by the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) are constantly reviewed for proper methodology free of bias and up-to-date information. This study aims to investigate the industry financial ties of the authors of recent PPPs from the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO).
Methods :
The most cited PPP of each unique AAO author committee since 2016 was reviewed. Each author’s name was queried in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Open Payments Database. The Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) recommends PPP authors to not engage in new financial relationships with affected companies for at least one year following publication. Hence, for each PPP the author was on, from the start of the PPP’s literature search to one year post-publication, data on every payment was exported. Mann Whitney U-tests were performed to discern if there was significant difference between the mean payments by authors pre and post PPP publication.
Results :
Out of the eight PPPs included in analysis, all eight had at least one author receiving $1,000 or more in industry payments, while six had authors receiving payments over $10,000. The median research payment was $1668.20 while the median general payment was $750.00. While 43% of the payments were undisclosed in nature, approximately 30% of the payments were consulting fees. For the five PPPs where authors received payments both before and after publication, no significant difference was observed in mean value of payment.
Conclusions :
Our results suggest that industry financial ties exist for AAO PPP authors. No statistical difference was noted between payment amounts to authors pre- and post-publication for any individual PPP. PPPs should continue to be assessed rigorously for transparency of financial disclosures to ensure they continue to remain free of bias.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.