Reports of Randomized Trials in Acute Stroke, 1955 to 1995 What Proportions Were Commercially Sponsored?

Background and Purpose—Research in acute stroke has expanded rapidly. Many potentially important interventions lack commercial potential (eg, admission to a stroke unit). We therefore wished to examine the frequency of reports of randomized trials of interventions for acute stroke over the past 40 years, the source of support for such trials, the reporting of the commercial involvement, and whether the proportion of commercially supported trials had changed. Methods—Eligible trials were identified from the Cochrane Stroke Group’s specialized register of controlled clinical trials. We included all randomized trials in patients with acute stroke which published a full text report, in English, between 1955 and 1995. Two reviewers independently extracted data on the involvement of the pharmaceutical industry in all eligible trials. Results—There was a substantial increase in the number of acute stroke trials published per year between 1955 and 1995. The description of pharmaceutical industry involvement in ea...