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Applications of Pharmacoepidemiology

Pharmacoepidemiology can be used for several applications including estimating the risks of drug use, informing patient counseling, and formulating public health policy decisions. It allows quantification of drug effects in real-world populations and special patient groups. Data from pharmacoepidemiology studies can also be used to examine drug effectiveness, discover new indications, and evaluate the costs and resource use associated with medical treatments.

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Pooja agarwal
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2K views2 pages

Applications of Pharmacoepidemiology

Pharmacoepidemiology can be used for several applications including estimating the risks of drug use, informing patient counseling, and formulating public health policy decisions. It allows quantification of drug effects in real-world populations and special patient groups. Data from pharmacoepidemiology studies can also be used to examine drug effectiveness, discover new indications, and evaluate the costs and resource use associated with medical treatments.

Uploaded by

Pooja agarwal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Applications of Pharmacoepidemiology

1. ESTIMATION OF RISKS OF DRUG USE:


 The risk involved in drug use can be quantified
 The benefits & risks of use of a drug may be weighed
 Risk estimation also helps to identify risk situation
Ex: Case reports of triazolam induced psychiatric disturbances appeared
soon after its introduction to market. The drug was withdrawn in some
countries. The reaction was likely due to dose related, hence the problem was
abated by recommending a lower dose.
2. USE IN PATIENT COUNSELING:
collection & analysis of observational data from other studies may help to address
certain issues through counseling the patients
Ex: A pregnant patient may wish to terminate pregnancy if there is a substantial
risk for producing a seriously malformed child, but would also wish to proceed with
the pregnancy if the risk is low.
3. FORMULATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY DECISIONS:
Qualitative as well as quantitative information from PEY studies helps to address
many issues
Ex: If an inappropriate prescribing is observed among prescribers, regulatory
agencies may require educational intervention or may impose restrictions on specific
drugs or on practitioners.
PEY studies also helps the policy makers to assess whether a drug should be
withdrawn from the market or allowed to remain.
4. FORMULATION OF THERAPEUTIC GUIDELINES & DISCOVERY OF NEW
INDICATIONS:
PEY studies helps to examine the effectiveness of drugs in elderly & pediatric
patients. Also in patients with co-morbidities and/or using other medication.
PEY studies help to discover the new indications.
5. FACILITATION OF PHARMACOECONOMICS EVALUATIONS
Data from PEY studies can be used to measure the effects of drugs on overall health
care costs & resource consumption.
Ex: Hospitalization due to serious adverse effects of a drug leads to more
expenses as well as resource consumption, which could be avoidable.
Other Applications:
1. Age based medicine use and it’s analysis.
2. Generation of data bases for other studies
3. Pharmacovigilance
4. drug usage analysis
5. empowering pharmacogenomic studies
6. evaluation of hospital committees
Advantages of PE
1. Can be useful in many cases where other models cannot
2. Allow quantification of drug effects in special population/patients with co
morbid conditions & patients who are on polypharmacy
3. Allows quantification of drug effects in a more realistic environment
4. Serve as alerting mechanism for clinicians, manufacturers and regulatory
authorities
5. Also serve as signal generators which further directs towards research and
indicate new areas to explore
6. Allows comparison of drug use patterns between areas
7. Quantification of DRPs
8. Allows rational use of drugs
Disadvantages of PE
1. These are non-experimental studies
2. Sometimes Causation may be difficult
3. Confounding factors, biases (like selection, informational) may threaten the
validity

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