Conflicts of Interest for Authors of American Academy of Neurology Clinical Practice Guidelines

In their invited article, Holloway et al.1 provided an excellent description of conflicts of interest (COI) as they relate to American Academy of Neurology (AAN) clinical practice guidelines. Their thoughtful discussion addressed complicated issues surrounding COI and identified areas for improvement. Both research and clinical practice were more common COI than personal income from industry. This finding occurred despite the fact that the AAN requires reporting of all industry-related COI, but leaves the reporting of non-industry related COI to the opinion of the individual as to whether it constitutes a COI. This dichotomy is surprising given that there are psychological barriers to recognizing one’s own COI, which as the authors point out has been termed “COI anosognosia.” Holloway et al. also noted that the approach to COI is evolving. As a result, there is a hodgepodge of reporting …