Who funded this medical study?

Who Funded This Study?

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through grants U01 CA230694 (PI Singal), U01 CA230997 (PI Kanwal), CPRIT RP150587 and RP190641 (PI El-Serag), and NIH P30DK056338 (PI El-Serag) 1.

Funding Information Details

The funding information is explicitly stated in the 2022 Journal of Hepatology guideline on rational hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) screening approaches for patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The authors clearly note that the funding agencies had no role in:

• Design and conduct of the study
• Collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data
• Preparation of the manuscript 1

This represents an important disclosure that helps ensure transparency about potential influences on the research process and findings.

Patterns of Research Funding Disclosure

Disclosure of funding sources is a critical aspect of scientific transparency. The CONSORT Statement for reporting randomized controlled trials specifically recommends systematic reporting of funding sources in abstracts 1. This transparency is important because:

• Studies sponsored by pharmaceutical industry are more likely to produce results favoring the product made by the company sponsoring the research compared to studies funded by other sources 1
• A systematic review of 30 studies on funding found that research funded by the pharmaceutical industry had four times the odds of having outcomes favoring the sponsor than research funded by other sources 1

Importance of Funding Disclosure

Transparent reporting of funding sources is essential because:

1. Potential bias assessment: Readers can evaluate whether financial interests might have influenced study design, analysis, or interpretation
2. Research integrity: Clear funding statements help maintain scientific integrity and public trust
3. Ethical practice: Disclosure represents ethical scientific conduct and responsible reporting

Unfortunately, funding sources are not always adequately reported in medical literature. A survey of 370 drug trials found that 29% failed to report sources of funding 1, while another survey of PubMed indexed randomized trials found that source of funding was reported for only 66% of 519 trials 1.

Funding Disclosure Best Practices

The most comprehensive funding disclosures should include:

• Identity of all funding sources
• Amount of funding received
• Specific role of funders in study design, conduct, analysis, and reporting
• Any other sources of support, such as supply of drugs or equipment 1

In this particular study, the authors provided a transparent and comprehensive funding disclosure, clearly stating both the funding sources and explicitly noting the limited role of funders in the research process.