How often are ethics approval and informed consent reported in publications on health research in Cameroon? A five-year review

J Empir Res Hum Res Ethics. 2011 Sep;6(3):93-7. doi: 10.1525/jer.2011.6.3.93.

Abstract

We assessed the extent of research ethics approval and informed consent reporting in publications emanating from Cameroon and indexed in PubMed from 2005-2009. In our review of 219 full-length articles, we found that 57.53% reported ethics approval, 70.78% informed consent, and 50.68% both ethics approval and informed consent. Reporting these procedures was more common in randomized clinical trials than in other study designs. Also, 59.52% of the articles on vulnerable populations documented ethics approval and 76.19% documented informed consent. This study also identified some structures for ethics review and recommends some next steps for research on the quality of ethics review in Cameroon.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Cameroon
  • Clinical Trials as Topic / ethics*
  • Clinical Trials as Topic / statistics & numerical data
  • Documentation / ethics*
  • Documentation / statistics & numerical data
  • Editorial Policies*
  • Ethics Committees, Research
  • Ethics, Research*
  • Humans
  • Informed Consent / statistics & numerical data*
  • Periodicals as Topic / ethics*
  • Periodicals as Topic / standards
  • Periodicals as Topic / statistics & numerical data
  • Vulnerable Populations / statistics & numerical data*