News in brief - Nov. 7, 2011

Ghostwriting at top journals falls 31% - U.S. health system treads water in international comparison

Ghostwriting at top journals falls 31%

The proportion of ghost-written articles published in leading medical journals fell by nearly a third between 1996 and 2008, according to a study published Oct. 25 in the journal BMJ (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22028479).

In 2008, 7.9% of articles at six leading general medical journals were written with help from ghost authors -- writers not credited according to International Committee of Medical Journal Editors criteria for authorship. That was down 31% from an 11.5% rate of ghostwriting in 1996, said the study, based on a survey of corresponding authors for articles published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, The New England Journal of Medicine and elsewhere.

The practice of giving writing credit to authors who do no work on an article, known as honorary authorship, also fell, declining 8% to 17.6% of published articles. Greater efforts are needed to promote transparent authorship credits, said the study's authors, all of whom are affiliated with JAMA.

U.S. health system treads water in international comparison

The United States failed to improve its performance on how well it delivers quality, affordable care to all of its residents compared with other nations. The U.S. earned 64 of a possible 100 on the October scorecard compiled by the Commonwealth Fund, a New York City nonprofit group, showing no progress since the organization's 2010 report.

The nation did show improvement in implementing health information technology, caring for patients with chronic conditions, preventing hospitalizations and cutting smoking rates among patients. That progress was not enough to raise the overall grade on the scorecard due to more uninsured patients and higher health system costs, said the report (www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2011/oct/why-not-the-best-2011.aspx).

If the U.S. were to achieve the mortality results of the world's best-performing health systems, as many as 91,000 premature deaths could be avoided annually, the report said.