Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety
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Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf · Jan 2011
Demographic, medical, and behavioral characteristics associated with over the counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use in a population-based cohort: results from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.
Three types of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can be obtained both over the counter (OTC) and by prescription in the United States. OTC NSAID use is not recorded in prescription claims databases; this might lead to differential misclassification of NSAID exposure status in studies that use computerized pharmacy databases to study NSAID use. ⋯ OTC NSAID use is prevalent in an older multi-ethnic population and OTC users differ from prescription NSAID users. Caution should be exercised when using prescribed NSAIDs as a proxy for NSAID use.