Pharmacoepidemiological studies databases

Pharmacoepidemiological studies can be set up from scratch (so-called field studies) but they are now normally conducted by using data collected for other purposes, e.g. from the General Practice Research Database in the UK or various health maintenance organisations in the USA. 

Fredheim OM, Skurtveit S, Moroz A, Breivik H, BorchgrevinkPC (2009) Prescription pattern of codeine for non-malignant pain a pharmacoepidemiological study from the Norwegian prescription database. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 53(5) 627-633... 

Wider range of patients than in NDA/PLA database Larger numbers of patients Active comparator study designs Supplemental efficacy studies Additional approvals in non-ICH countries Pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacoeconomics in particular healthcare environments Post-marketing commitments All of the above... 

Lewis JD, Schinnar R, Bilker WB, Wang X, Strom BL. 2007. Validation studies of the health improvement network (THIN) database for pharmacoepidemiology research. Pharmacoepidemiol. Drug Saf. 16 393-401. 

Schneeweiss S, Patrick AR, Stunner T, Brookhart MA, Avom J et al. 2007. Increasing levels of restriction in pharmacoepidemiologic database studies of elderly and comparison with randomized trial results. Med. Care 45 S131-S142. 

Sturmer T, Glynn RJ, Rothman KJ, Avom J, Schneeweiss 5. 2007. Adjustments for unmeasured confoimders in pharmacoepidemiologic database studies using external information. Med. Care 45 5158- 5165. 

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