Background: The quality of case reports, which are often the first reported evidence for a disease, may be negatively affected by a rush to publication early in a pandemic. We aimed to determine the completeness of reporting (COR) for case reports published on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods:We conducted a systematic search of the PubMed database for all single-patient case reports of confirmed COVID-19 published from Jan. 1 to Apr. 24, 2020. All included case reports were assessed for adherence to the CARE (Case Report) 31-item checklist, which was used to create a composite COR score. The primary outcome was the mean COR score assessed by 2 independent raters. Secondary outcomes included whether there was a change in overall COR score with certain publication factors (e.g., publication date) and whether there was a linear relation between COR and citation count and between COR scores and social media attention.Results: Our search identified 196 studies that were published in 114 unique journals. We found that the overall mean COR score was 54.4%. No one case report included all of the 31 CARE checklist items. There was no significant correlation between COR with either citation count or social media attention. Interpretation:We found that the overall COR for case reports on COVID-19 was poor. We suggest that journals adopt common case-reporting standards to improve reporting quality.

Background Financial conflicts of interest (FCOIs) are widespread in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and may be particularly important in point-of-care (POC) resources, such as UpToDate, that are used to aid clinical decision making. In this study, we determined the prevalence of industry payments from companies making biologic medications for IBD to contributors of UpToDate articles on IBD. Methods This cross-sectional analysis included UpToDate articles that mention the use of biologic medications for IBD. We collected the names of the contributors (authors and editors) and their disclosures on UpToDate. We then searched for their names on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Open Payments database and compared the payment information from 2013 to 2018 with UpToDate's disclosures. We presented data per episode, which describes one instance of participation by one person in one article, regardless of whether that person contributed to multiple articles. Results We identified 23 articles on the treatment of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis that mentioned the use of biologic medications, with 86 total episodes. Sixty-two (72%) episodes involved FCOIs. The median payment associated with each episode was $$55 (interquartile range = $44 to $145,241). Contributors did not fully disclose FCOIs in 41 (48%) episodes. Deputy editors, who are required to be free of FCOIs, in general did not have substantial episodes involving FCOI. Conclusions We found that UpToDate articles on inflammatory bowel disease involve substantial FCOI, many of which are not disclosed. The presence of these FCOIs may hamper trust in the objectivity of treatment recommendations.