Payments to leading otorhinolaryngologists: clinical practice guideline authors, society board members, and academic journal editors
We identified a total of 139 individual authors from eight clinical practice guidelines accredited or authorized by the JHO-HNS between 2015 and 2020. (Table 2) Of the 139 authors, 101 (72.7%) authors were board-certified otorhinolaryngologists and 94 (93.1%) received one or more personal payments for lecturing, consulting, and writing compensations. A total of $2,435,239 (17.6% [$2,435,239 out of $13,873,562] of overall personal payments from the companies) were made to 94 otorhinolaryngologists authoring clinical practice guidelines. The aggregated payment per physician was significantly higher among otorhinolaryngologists authoring clinical practice guidelines than that of otorhinolaryngologists not involved in authoring guidelines ($11,522 [IQR: $3,090–$32,390] vs $0 [IQR: $0–$817], p<0.001).
All 36 board members of the JSO-HNS during the 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 period were board-certified otorhinolaryngologists. Of 36 board-certified otorhinolaryngologists with the JSO-HNS board membership, 34 (94.4%) received a total of $1,234,715 (8.9% of overall payments) and a median payment of $22,261 (IQR: $4,537–$50,331) per physician. (Table 2) Both the proportion of otorhinolaryngologists receiving payments (94.4% vs 44.6%, p<0.001) and the payments per physician ($22,261 [IQR: $4,537–$50,331] vs $0 [IQR: $0–$831], p<0.001) were significantly higher for the otorhinolaryngologists positioned as the JSO-HNS board member than those without board membership.
There were 20 Japanese editors of the Auris Nasus Larynx and among them, 19 editors were board-certified otorhinolaryngologists. All 19 (100%) board-certified otorhinolaryngologists who are editors of theAuris Nasus Larynx received payments with $774,171 (5.6% of overall payments) in total and $35,143 (IQR: $7,733–$50,373) in median per-physician payments from pharmaceutical companies. (Table 2)
The multivariable Poisson regression model showed that clinical practice guidelines authorship, JSO-HNS board membership, and editorial membership in the academic journal were significantly associated with 1.96 (95% CI: 1.82–2.12) times, 1.47 (95% CI: 1.10–1.79) times, and 1.21 (95% CI: 1.11–1.33) times higher likelihood to accept personal payments from pharmaceutical companies than those without authorships or memberships. (Table 2) The multivariable negative binomial regression model indicated that clinical practice guidelines authorship and JSO-HNS board membership were positively associated with 13.04 times (95% CI: 9.55–17.79) times and 8.57 (95% CI: 3.04–24.17) times higher monetary values in personal payments, while editorial membership in the academic journal was negatively associated with payment values.
Table 2. Payments to the board-certified otorhinolaryngologists with leading roles between 2016 and 2019