title: How often are ethics approval and informed consent reported in publications on health research in Cameroon? A five-year review.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Buea, Cameroon. nchangwisyntia@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Nchangwi Syntia
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Munung
authors.forename: Chi Primus
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Che
authors.forename: Odile
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ouwe-Missi-Oukem-Boyer
authors.forename: Godfrey B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Tangwa
mesh_terms: D002163:Cameroon; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000941:ethics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004282:Documentation / Q000941:ethics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D035081:Editorial Policies; D028744:Ethics Committees, Research; D032984:Ethics, Research; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000941:ethics* / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D035862:Vulnerable Populations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*