Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety
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Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf · Jul 2007
Improving medication safety: influence of a patient-specific prescriber feedback program on rate of medication reviews performed by Australian general medical practitioners.
To determine if patient-specific prescriber feedback for general medical practitioners (GPs), supported by educational material mailed to their patients, would increase home medicines review (HMR) rates. ⋯ Patient-specific feedback provided to GPs, supported by educational material mailed directly to their patients increased HMR rates for targeted veterans and increased GP participation in the delivery of HMRs.
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Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf · Jun 2007
In-hospital use of opioids increases rate of coded postoperative paralytic ileus.
To determine the association between opioid use and the occurrence of postoperative paralytic ileus (POI) after different types of surgery. ⋯ This study demonstrated a distinct association between the use of opioids, in particular natural opium alkaloids, and the risk for coded POI.
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Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf · Apr 2007
Trends in the use of antihypertensive drugs by outpatients with diabetes in Taiwan, 1997-2003.
To analyze trends in AHD-use by diabetic outpatients in Taiwan over a 7-year period (1997-2003) and to see whether the trends are consistent with clinical trial outcomes and published guidelines. ⋯ The use of drugs acting on the RAS showed a marked increasing trend over the course of the study. Physicians' prescribing patterns for AHD are increasingly involving multi-drug regimens. These findings may imply that management of hypertension in patients with diabetes had a positive trend toward to new clinical trial outcomes and guideline's recommendation.
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Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf · Apr 2007
Comparative StudyEffectiveness of two statin prescribing strategies with respect to adherence and cardiovascular outcomes: observational study.
There is considerable evidence that statins can reduce cardiovascular events. Currently high-risk patients are treated to a target cholesterol concentration. An alternative prescribing strategy (the 'fire-and-forget' approach) would instead deploy low-dose statins more widely. It has been suggested that for the same cost this approach might prevent more cardiovascular events. We have compared the treat-to-target and fire-and-forget statin prescribing strategies with respect to adherence and cardiovascular outcomes. ⋯ Our findings suggest that adherence to statins is worse in patients treated on a fire-and-forget basis than in patients treated to a target cholesterol concentration, and that this prescribing strategy is associated with worse cardiovascular outcomes.