Table 3.
Disclosure of conflicts of interest (COIs) according to the publication’s conclusions and the tendency to be favourable or not favourable to the use of e-cigarettes
| Total | No disclosure (code 0 ) | Disclosed no COIs (code 1 ) | Disclosed COIs for previous studies or for some authors (code 2 ) | Disclosed no COIs, but acknowledge financial support by PTEC_COsa (code 3 ) | Disclosed potential COIs (code 4 ) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | |
| All publications | 404 | 150 (37.1) | 156 (38.6) | 25 (6.2) | 18 (4.5) | 55 (13.6) |
| Conclusion | ||||||
| Favourable | 79 | 11 (13.9) | 23 (29.1) | 14 (17.7) | 2 (2.5) | 29 (36.7) |
| Not favourable | 93 | 33 (35.5) | 53 (57.0) | 0 (0.0) | 2 (2.2) | 5 (5.4) |
| Neutral/unclear | 169 | 64 (37.9) | 69 (40.8) | 8 (4.7) | 14 (8.3) | 14 (8.3) |
| No conclusion | 63 | 42 (66.7) | 11 (17.5) | 3 (4.8) | 0 (0.0) | 7 (11.1) |
| Publication tendencyb | ||||||
| Supports their use for harm reduction | 83 | 24 (28.9) | 23 (27.7) | 11 (13.3) | 2 (2.4) | 23 (27.7) |
| Supports regulation | 128 | 55 (43.0) | 51 (39.8) | 9 (7.0) | 4 (3.1) | 9 (7.0) |
| Supports their use for smoking cessation | 71 | 18 (25.4) | 18 (25.4) | 10 (14.1) | 2 (2.8) | 23 (32.4) |
| Empirical studies | 166 | 37 (22.3) | 77 (46.4) | 13 (7.8) | 12 (7.2) | 27 (16.3) |
| Conclusion | ||||||
| In favour | 37 | 2 (5.4) | 11 (29.7) | 8 (21.6) | 2 (5.4) | 14 (37.8) |
| Not in favour | 36 | 14 (38.9) | 20 (55.6) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (2.8) | 1 (2.8) |
| Neutral/unclear | 91 | 20 (22.0) | 46 (50.5) | 5 (5.5) | 9 (9.9) | 11 (12.1) |
| No conclusion | 2 | 1 (50.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (50.0) |
| Publication tendencyb | ||||||
| Supports their use for harm reduction | 25 | 3 (12.0) | 10 (40.0) | 4 (16.0) | 2 (8.0) | 6 (24.0) |
| Supports regulation | 44 | 13 (29.5) | 23 (52.3) | 5 (11.4) | 2 (4.5) | 1 (2.3) |
| Supports their use for smoking cessation | 30 | 3 (10.0) | 8 (26.7) | 6 (20.0) | 2 (6.7) | 11 (36.6) |
a
PTEC_COs: pharmaceutical (P), tobacco (T) and/or electronic cigarette (EC) companies.
b
Multiple responses were possible.