Reverse spin bias: preliminary observations of reporting bias in medical systematic reviews.

ABSTRACT:

Background

While conducting an umbrella review of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation, we observed that in many instances, systematic review authors reported findings favorable to the treatment, yet they declined to recommend it or recommended against it despite the evidence of its effectiveness in their own systematic reviews.

Existing literature

We searched the literature for a term or category to describe this form of reporting bias where the authors' recommendations dismiss their findings of treatment benefit. Ideally the term spin bias should apply to any conclusion or recommendation not supported by the findings of the study, but in practice spin bias is almost exclusively applied to the narrative attribution of significance or causation to statistically non-significant

SUBMITTER: O'Leary R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12784479 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature