Expanding disease definitions in guidelines and expert panel ties to industry: a cross-sectional study of common conditions in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Financial ties between health professionals and industry may unduly influence professional judgments and some researchers have suggested that widening disease definitions may be one driver of over-diagnosis, bringing potentially unnecessary labeling and harm. We aimed to identify guidelines in which disease definitions were changed, to assess whether any proposed changes would increase the numbers of individuals considered to have the disease, whether potential harms of expanding disease definitions were investigated, and the extent of members' industry ties.

Methods and findings

We undertook a cross-sectional study of the most recent publication between 2000 and 2013 from national and international guideline panels making decisions about definitions or diagnostic

SUBMITTER: Moynihan RN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3742441 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature