Are studies of claims databases reproducible? The hypothesis of an instituted ethical misconduct in public health

Abstract

Methodological reproducibility refers to the ability to reproduce exactly the same results by reproducing the same study protocol on the same data. The aim of this study was to assess the methodological reproducibility of studies published in the Revue d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique between 2008 and 2017 and using data from the national health data system. Our results suggest that only 49% of the studies could be replicated without the help of the authors. The results may reveal a lack of concern about the purpose of public health research. It is difficult to attribute responsibility for this default of reproducibility solely to researchers, so we hypothesize an instituted ethical misconduct.