Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety
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Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf · Apr 2011
Thiazolidinedione use in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes: with and without heart failure.
To compare the prescribing patterns of thiazolidinediones (TZDs) in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes with and without heart failure (HF). ⋯ TZDs were frequently prescribed to patients with HF, even though the TZDs were contraindicated in patients with HF. Health care professionals should consider alternative therapies for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. In addition, they should carefully monitor the impact of TZD use in patients with HF.
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Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf · Mar 2011
Role of key informants and direct patient interviews in epidemiological studies of substance abuse.
The present study was undertaken to assess the degree to which key informants' perceptions of relative abuse liability of opioids in their communities correspond to actual drug use in their patients. ⋯ Our results demonstrate that KI's perceived rank order of drugs of choice correlated almost perfectly with their patients' choice of a primary drug. These data suggest that key informants, as they have for decades in epidemiological research, provide a reliable, high-level view of substance abuse in their catchment area. As such, KIs provide valid and reliable information on scope and patterns of abuse, but if more detail is required about the characteristics of abuse, such as that required for FDA-mandated Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies, then direct interviews with the abusers themselves seem more appropriate.
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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.
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Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf · Nov 2010
Quality check of spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting forms of different countries.
Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are considered as one of the leading causes of death among hospitalized patients. Thus reporting of adverse drug reactions become an important phenomenon. Spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting form is an essential component and a major tool of the pharmacovigilance system of any country. ⋯ Of the ADR forms that we analyzed, Malaysia was the highest scorer with 16 out of 18 points. This study reveals that there is a need to harmonize the ADR reporting forms of all the countries because there is a lot of discrepancy in data captured by the existing ADR reporting forms as the design of these forms is different for different countries. These incomplete data obtained result in inappropriate causality assessment.
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Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf · Oct 2010
Regional variations of private prescriptions for the non-benzodiazepine hypnotics zolpidem and zopiclone in Germany.
Although evidence is lacking, there is general perception that zolpidem and zopiclone ('Z-drugs') are more effective and safer than benzodiazepines leading to an increased prescribing of Z-drugs. In Germany, 85% of the inhabitants are covered by statutory health insurance (SHI), the rest is privately insured. Z-drugs are covered by SHIs but physicians can also provide private prescriptions for SHI insured persons, who then have to pay for these out of pocket. Since private prescriptions are not documented in SHI claims data, physicians might prescribe drugs associated with abuse as private prescriptions. We aim to quantify SHI versus private prescriptions of Z-drugs and analyze regional variations. ⋯ In addition to large regional variations, zolpidem is more often prescribed as a private prescription than zopiclone. This might be a signal for a higher abuse potential of zolpidem.