Methods for Developing and Reporting Guidelines: Disclosing Competing Interests in CDC Guidelines

This document describes CDC’s Office of the Associate Director for Science (OADS) requirements for disclosing the competing interests of authors and members of steering committees and workgroups who develop and report on CDC guidelines and recommendations. A competing interest exists when professional judgment or actions concerning a primary interest (such as patients’ or public’s welfare or the validity of research) may be improperly influenced by a secondary interest such as financial gain, professional advancement, or personal rivalry.1, 2 The commonly used “conflict of interest” term often refers to a narrower understanding of secondary interests such as financial gain. However, the term competing interest is used in this document to indicate a broader meaning of secondary interests, such as nonfinancial personal gain. CDC guidelines and recommendations have the potential to influence practice, policy, and the allocation of resources on a wide scale. Therefore recommendations must be based on objective assessments of the evidence, and values or preferences that influence judgment must be transparent and not prejudiced by secondary interests.

Guidelines and Recommendations