There is limited geriatrics-oriented clinical pharmacological information available to guide pharmacotherapy in latelife psychiatric disorders. In this paper, we review available data on interindividual differences in drug exposure and central nervous system functioning, amplified by drug–drug interactions in the elderly, that may contribute to variable responses to treatment and significant ad...

1 Department of PharmacoEpidemiology and PharmacoEconomics (PE 2 ), University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713 AV Groningen, THE NETHERLANDS 2 Department of Epidemiology, Oncology Institute of Vojvodina, Put dr Goldmana 4, 21024 Sremska Kamenica, SERBIA 3 Department of Epidemiology, Medical Faculty, University of Novi Sad, Hajduk Veljkova 3, 21000 Novi Sad, SERBIA 4 Department for pr...

Large epidemiological databases are often used to examine matters pertaining to drug utilization, health services, and drug safety. The major strength of such databases is that they include large sample sizes, which allow precise estimates to be made. The IMS® LRx database has in recent years been used as a data source for epidemiological research. The aim of this paper is to review a number of...

BACKGROUND Growing imperatives for safety, quality and responsible resource allocation have prompted renewed efforts to identify and quantify harmful or wasteful (low-value) medical practices such as test ordering, procedures and prescribing. Quantifying these practices at a population level using routinely collected health data allows us to understand the scale of low-value medical practices, ...

BACKGROUND To determine the suitability of using the self-controlled case series design to assess improvements in health outcomes using the effectiveness of beta blockers for heart failure in reducing hospitalisations as the example. METHODS The Australian Government Department of Veterans' Affairs administrative claims database was used to undertake a self-controlled case-series in elderly p...

Volume 95 No. 9 September 2012 today, more than ever, healthCare systems need to do more with less. Clinicians, decision-makers, and other stakeholders are seeking evidence-based healthcare practices that control expenditures while improving patient care. Of particular concern is the paucity of supportive clinical data related to alternative therapeutic options for the treatment of acute and ch...

Pharmacoepidemiological studies exploring utilisation of psychotropic medications in real-life conditions are required to identify extension of indications, since the risk of gap between the theoretical target population and the population actually treated is especially marked for this class of drugs. A large proportion of subjects from the general population are exposed to psychotropic medicat...

There are significant controversies regarding rising antipsychotic prescription trends in children and adolescents. Many pharmacoepidemiology trend studies have been published, and interpretations of these data are helpful in explaining what is happening in prescribing practices, but not why these patterns exist. There is a lack of qualitative data in this area, and the experience of prescribin...