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. 2015 Jan;34(1):58-66.
doi: 10.1111/dar.12125. Epub 2014 Mar 7.

Has industry funding biased studies of the protective effects of alcohol on cardiovascular disease? A preliminary investigation of prospective cohort studies

Jim McCambridge  1 , Greg Hartwell
Affiliations

Has industry funding biased studies of the protective effects of alcohol on cardiovascular disease? A preliminary investigation of prospective cohort studies

Jim McCambridge et al. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2015 Jan.

Abstract

Introduction and aims: There have been no previous quantitative analyses of the possible effects of industry funding on alcohol and health research. This study examines whether findings of alcohol's protective effects on cardiovascular disease may be biased by industry funding.

Design and methods: Findings from a recent systematic review of prospective cohort studies were combined with public domain data on alcohol industry funding. The six outcomes evaluated were alcohol's effects on cardiovascular disease mortality, incident coronary heart disease, coronary heart disease mortality, incident stroke, stroke mortality and mortality from all causes.

Results: We find no evidence of possible funding effects for outcomes other than stroke. Whether studies find alcohol to be a risk factor or protective against incident stroke depends on whether or not there is possible industry funding [risk ratio (RR) 1.07 (0.97-1.17) for those without concern about industry funding compared with RR 0.88 (0.81-0.94)]. For stroke mortality, a similar difference is not statistically significant, most likely because there are too few studies.

Discussion and conclusions: Dedicated high-quality studies of possible alcohol industry funding effects should be undertaken, and these should be broad in scope. They also need to investigate specific areas of concern, such as stroke, in greater depth.

Keywords: alcohol; alcohol industry; bias; cardiovascular disease; health benefits.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality findings by concern about industry funding. CI, confidence interval.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence findings by concern about industry funding. CI, confidence interval.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality findings by concern about industry funding. CI, confidence interval.
Figure 4
Figure 4
All-cause mortality findings by concern about industry funding. CI, confidence interval.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Stroke incidence findings by concern about industry funding. CI, confidence interval; HPFUS, Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Stroke mortality findings by concern about industry funding. CI, confidence interval.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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