Table 3.

Characteristics of COI in health communication on social media assessed in the included studies (N=17)

	n (%)
Subjects of COI
Physicians	13 (76)
Medical students	1 (6)
University	4 (24)
Healthcare entity (hospital, clinic)	4 (24)
Others*	9 (53)
Source of COI
Industry	11 (65)
Others†	2 (12)
Not specified	6 (35)
Types of COI
Financial	7 (41)
Not specified	10 (59)

*Others: non-physician health professionals (nurses, dietitians, nutritionists, pharmacists, chiropractors, acupuncturists), patients, societies/organisations (foundations, governmental institutions, academic journals), industry, news media and bloggers.

†Others: Volunteer donation, foundation, insurer, not-for-profit, webhost or corporation entity.

COI, conflicts of interest.