Letter to the editor: data accuracy

Dear Professor Pepine,

We read with great interest the recently published article entitled “Gut microbiome dysbiosis in heart failure: Updated evidence, mechanisms, and therapeutic directions” [1], which is presented as a systematic review and meta-analysis examining the relationship between heart failure and the gut microbiome. Given the growing and sustained interest in the role of intestinal microbiota in systemic inflammation and cardiovascular disease, the aim of providing an updated synthesis of the available evidence is both timely and clinically relevant.

However, upon careful review, we noted several issues that warrant clarification. Specifically, the studies summarised in the tables do not appear to include key investigations employing 16S rRNA sequencing [2], metagenomic approaches [3], or metabolomic analyses [4], all of which are highly relevant to the topic under review. In addition, the included studies are referenced only by first author and year of publication, without full bibliographic details.

We believe that, particularly in the context of a meta-analysis, transparency is essential. All studies identified during the screening process should be clearly reported, ideally in a supplementary file, and the final included studies should be fully referenced within the main text. Furthermore, while only 10 studies are presented in the tables, both the PRISMA flow diagram (Fig. 1) and the accompanying text state that 25 studies were ultimately included, creating an apparent inconsistency that requires clarification.

Ensuring the highest standards of methodological rigor and reporting quality is of paramount importance, especially in the current era of rapidly expanding scientific output and increasing reliance on artificial intelligence tools. The risk of misinformation underscores the responsibility of the scientific community to critically appraise and transparently report research findings in accordance with ethical and methodological best practices.

We thank you in advance for your attention to these observations and for the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing scientific discussion on this important topic.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Magdalini Manti: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Panagiotis-Anastasios Tsioufis: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.

Declaration of competing interest

Nothing to disclosure.