Research In Brief

Physician conflict-of-interest disclosure: About 79% of physicians self-reported conflicts of interest for payments directly related to presentations at the 2008 American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons annual meeting, according to an article published in the Oct. 8 New England Journal of Medicine. The study, led by Kanu Okike, Brigham and Women's Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital, found that the overall disclosure rate was 71.2%. For payments indirectly related to an AAOS presentation, the rate was 50%. According to a multivariate analysis, it was more likely for a payment to be disclosed if it exceeded $10,000, was directed toward an individual doctor or included an in-kind component. The study was based on physician payments disclosed on the Web sites of Biomet, Johnson & Johnson/DePuy, Stryker, Smith & Nephew and Zimmer. The five companies were required to make physician payments public as part of a 2007 settlement with the Department of Justice (1"The Gray Sheet" Oct. 1, 2007)