CMAJ - Medical societies scramble to include disclosure on clinical guidelines

Despite the growing push toward full transparency in clinical guideline development, some Canadian medical societies continue to buck the trend, which some experts claim will ultimately erode the credibility of all guidelines.

“If we don’t protect the process, none of them will be credible,” says Dr. Allan Sniderman, professor of cardiology at the University of McGill in Montreal, Quebec, citing recent contraceptive guidelines from the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada as “an egregious example” of guidelines completely lacking in transparency because they contain no disclosure of potential conflicts of interest.