Stroke Risk Among Elderly Users of Haloperidol and Typical Antipsychotics Versus Atypical Antipsychotics: A Real-World Study From a US Health Insurance Claims Database.

BACKGROUND: We estimated stroke risk associated with new exposure to haloperidol, or any typical antipsychotic, versus atypical antipsychotic among patients aged ≥65 years regardless of dementia status. METHODS: IBM MarketScan Medicare Supplemental Database data (January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2017) were used. Stroke risk for new users of typical antipsychotics (T1 cohort) or haloperidol (T2 cohort) was compared with new users of atypical antipsychotics (C1 cohort) aged ≥65 years. Crude incidence rate (IR) and incidence proportion of stroke were estimated within each cohort and gender subgroup. Three propensity score (PS) matching strategies were employed: Unadjusted (crude), Sentinel PS replication, and a large-scale regularized regression model (adapted PS). RESULTS: Overall, 36,734 (T1), 24,074 (T2), and 226,990 (C1) patients were included. Crude IRs for stroke per 1000 person-years were 17.67 (T1), 23.74 (T2), and 14.17 (C1). In preplanned analyses, PS-matched calibrated hazard ratio (cHR) for stroke T1 versus C1 cohort was 1.08 (95% calibrated confidence interval [cCI] = 0.75, 1.55) with Sentinel PS strategy and 1.31 (95% cCI = 1.07, 1.60) with adapted PS strategy. The cHR for stroke in patients of T2 versus C1 was 1.69 (95% cCI = 1.08, 2.75) with Sentinel PS strategy and 1.45 (95% cCI = 1.17, 1.80) with adapted PS strategy. CONCLUSION: Stroke risk in elderly new users of haloperidol was elevated compared to new users of atypical antipsychotics and was elevated for typical antipsychotics using the adapted PS strategy.

Understanding patient journey in ulcerative colitis prior to biologic initiation: a 5-year exploration.

BACKGROUND: There has been a more pronounced shift toward earlier, more aggressive therapies in Crohn's disease than in ulcerative colitis (UC). The aim of this study was to describe the pre-biologic treatment and health care experience, including co-morbidities and overall health care utilization, for UC patients who initiated biologic therapies, in the 5 years prior to the initiation of the first biologic agent. METHODS: UC patients who initiated a biologic agent approved for UC between 9/15/2005 and 1/30/2018 were identified from the IBM® MarketScan® Commercial Database, a large US database. The date of the first recorded UC biologic exposure was defined as the index date, and ≥ 5 years of pre-index records were required to evaluate patients' treatment, disease progression and overall health care utilization prior to initiating biologic agents. RESULTS: Among the 1891 eligible patients, treatment with oral corticosteroids, 5-aminosalicylates, and other non-biologic immunomodulators, all increased progressively across the 5 years prior to the index. From within year-five to within year-one prior to the index, the median duration of oral corticosteroid treatment increased from 34 to 88 days per year and the proportion of patients who experienced more extensive/pancolitis disease increased from 16 to 59%. Overall, the frequency of all-cause health care visits also increased. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with UC experienced increasing morbidity and treatment burden in the 5 years prior to initiating biologic therapy. To achieve reduced corticosteroids in UC management, better risk stratification is needed to help identify patients for more timely biologic treatment.

All-cause mortality in patients with treatment-resistant depression: a cohort study in the US population.

BACKGROUND: Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) may represent a substantial proportion of major depressive disorder (MDD); however, the risk of mortality in TRD is still incompletely assessed. METHODS: Data were obtained from Optum Clinformatics™ Extended, a US claims database. Date of the first antidepressant (AD) dispensing was designated as the index date for study entry and 6 months prior to that was considered the baseline period. Patients with MDD aged ≥ 18 years, index date between January 1, 2008 and September 30, 2015, no AD claims during baseline, and continuous enrollment in the database during baseline were included. Patients who started a third AD regimen after two regimens of appropriate duration were included in the TRD cohort. All-cause mortality was compared between patients with TRD and non-TRD MDD using a proportional hazards model and Kaplan-Meier estimate with TRD status being treated as a time-varying covariate. The model was adjusted for study year, age, gender, depression diagnosis, substance use disorder, psychiatric comorbidities, and Charlson comorbidity index. RESULTS: Out of 355,942 patients with MDD, 34,176 (9.6%) met the criterion for TRD. TRD was associated with a significantly higher mortality compared with non-TRD MDD (adjusted HR: 1.29; 95% CI 1.22-1.38; p < 0.0001). Survival time was significantly shorter in the TRD cohort compared with the non-TRD MDD cohort (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with TRD had a higher all-cause mortality compared with non-TRD MDD patients.

Finding treatment-resistant depression in real-world data: How a data-driven approach compares with expert-based heuristics.

BACKGROUND: Depression that does not respond to antidepressants is treatment-resistant depression (TRD). TRD definitions include assessments of treatment response, dose and duration, and implementing these definitions in claims databases can be challenging. We built a data-driven TRD definition and evaluated its performance. METHODS: We included adults with depression, ≥1 antidepressant, and no diagnosis of mania, dementia, or psychosis. Subjects were stratified into those with and without proxy for TRD. Proxies for TRD were electroconvulsive therapy, deep brain, or vagus nerve stimulation. The index date for subjects with proxy for TRD was the procedure date, and for subjects without, the date of a randomly selected visit. We used three databases. We fit decision tree predictive models. We included number of distinct antidepressants, with and without adequate doses and duration, number of antipsychotics and psychotherapies, and expert-based definitions, 3, 6, and 12 months before index date. To assess performance, we calculated area under the curve (AUC) and transportability. RESULTS: We analyzed 33,336 subjects with no proxy for TRD, and 3,566 with the proxy. Number of antidepressants and antipsychotics were selected in all periods. The best model was at 12 months with an AUC = 0.81. The rule transported well and states that a subject with ≥1 antipsychotic or ≥3 antidepressants in the last year has TRD. Applying this rule, 15.8% of subjects treated for depression had TRD. CONCLUSION: The definition that best discriminates between subjects with and without TRD considers number of distinct antidepressants (≥3) or antipsychotics (≥1) in the last year.

Quantification of missing prescriptions in commercial claims databases: results of a cohort study.

PURPOSE: This study aims to quantify the magnitude of missed dispensings in commercial claims databases. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study has been used linking PharMetrics, a commercial claims database, to a prescription database (LRx) that captures pharmacy dispensings independently of payment method, including cash transactions. We included adults with dispensings for opioids, diuretics, antiplatelet medications, or anticoagulants. To determine the degree of capture of dispensings, we calculated the number of subjects with the following: (1) same number of dispensings in both databases; (2) at least one dispensing, but not all dispensings, missed in PharMetrics; and (3) all dispensings missing in PharMetrics. Similar analyses were conducted using dispensings as the unit of analysis. To assess whether a dispensing in LRx was in PharMetrics, the dispensing in PharMetrics had to be for the same medication class and within ±7 days in LRx. RESULTS: A total of 1 426 498 subjects were included. Overall, 68% of subjects had the same number of dispensings in both databases. In 13% of subjects, PharMetrics identified ≥1 dispensing but also missed ≥1 dispensing. In 19% of the subjects, PharMetrics missed all the dispensings. Taking dispensings as the unit of analysis, 25% of the dispensings present in LRx were not captured in PharMetrics. These patterns were similar across all four classes of medications. Of the dispensings missing in PharMetrics, 48% involved a subject who had >1 health insurance plan. CONCLUSIONS: Commercial claims databases provide an incomplete picture of all prescriptions dispensed to patients. The lack of capture goes beyond cash transactions and potentially introduces substantial misclassification bias. © 2017 The Authors. Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Incidence of erythropoietin antibody-mediated pure red cell aplasia: the Prospective Immunogenicity Surveillance Registry (PRIMS).

BACKGROUND: Subcutaneous administration of Eprex(®) (epoetin alfa) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) was contraindicated in the European Union between 2002 and 2006 after increased reports of anti-erythropoietin antibody-mediated pure red cell aplasia (PRCA). The Prospective Immunogenicity Surveillance Registry (PRIMS) was conducted to estimate the incidence of antibody-mediated PRCA with subcutaneous administration of a new coated-stopper syringe presentation of Eprex(®) and to compare this with the PRCA incidence with subcutaneous NeoRecormon(®) (epoetin beta) and Aranesp(®) (darbepoetin alfa). METHODS: PRIMS was a multicentre, multinational, non-interventional, parallel-group, immunogenicity surveillance registry. Adults with CKD receiving or about to initiate subcutaneous Eprex(®), NeoRecormon(®) or Aranesp(®) for anaemia were enrolled and followed for up to 3 years. Unexplained loss or lack of effect (LOE), including suspected PRCA, was reported, with antibody testing for confirmation of PRCA. RESULTS: Of the 15 333 patients enrolled, 5948 received Eprex(®) (8377 patient-years) and 9356 received NeoRecormon(®)/Aranesp(®) (14 286 patient-years). No treatment data were available for 29 patients. Among 23 patients with LOE, five cases of PRCA were confirmed (Eprex(®), n = 3; NeoRecormon(®), n = 1; Aranesp(®), n = 1). Based on exposed time, PRCA incidence was 35.8/100 000 patient-years (95% CI 7.4-104.7) for Eprex(®) versus 14.0/100 000 patient-years (95% CI 1.7-50.6) for NeoRecormon(®)/Aranesp(®). The incidence of PRCA with Eprex(®) was not significantly different versus comparator ESAs (rate ratio: 2.56; 95% CI 0.43-15.31). An analysis based on observed time produced similar findings. CONCLUSION: This large, prospective registry demonstrates that PRCA is rare with subcutaneous administration of either the new coated-stopper syringe presentation of Eprex(®), or NeoRecormon(®) or Aranesp(®).

Doctor shopping for medications used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: shoppers often pay in cash and cross state lines.

BACKGROUND: Doctor shopping, defined by filling overlapping prescriptions from more than one prescriber at more than two pharmacies, is a way to obtain scheduled medications for diversion or abuse. Little is known about how far attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication shoppers travel, how often they cross state lines to fill their ADHD prescriptions and how often they pay for their medication in cash, i.e. entirely out of pocket. OBJECTIVE: We sought to describe the pattern of doctor shopping for ADHD medications: how far shoppers travel, how often they cross state lines to fill their prescriptions, and how often they pay in cash. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study using LRx, a large US retail prescription database. We included subjects with any ADHD medication dispensed between 2011 and 2012. Subjects were followed for 18 months. RESULTS: Of a total of 4 402 464 subjects exposed to ADHD medications, 0.4% developed shopping behavior. Women were more likely to become shoppers. Shoppers travelled a median of 91.9 miles and non-shoppers 0.2 miles to fill their ADHD prescriptions. Almost 28% of the shoppers filled prescriptions in >1 state compared with 4.3% of non-shoppers. Of the shoppers, 27.3% paid at least one prescription in cash compared to 14.4% of the non-shoppers. CONCLUSIONS: Shoppers travelled larger distances, visited more states and paid in cash for ADHD medications more often than non-shoppers. Data sharing among prescriptions monitoring programs can improve their effectiveness and drug utilization studies should take account of cash purchases.

Incidence of fibrosing colonopathy with pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy in patients with cystic fibrosis.

BACKGROUND: High daily doses of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) were historically associated with risk of fibrosing colonopathy (FC) in people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF), leading to development of PERT dosing guidelines and reformulated products. This study quantified incidence of FC in pwCF treated with PERT following those measures. METHODS: This large prospective cohort study included eligible pwCF enrolled in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Patient Registry with ≥1 clinic visit in 2012-2014 and follow-up through 2020. Data on PERT exposure, demographics, and medical history were collected. Clinical data, imaging, and histopathology of suspected cases were examined by an independent adjudication panel of physicians familiar with this complication. RESULTS: Base Study Population included 26,025 pwCF who contributed 155,814 person-years [mean (SD) 6.0 (2.0) years] of follow-up. Over 7.8 years, 29 pwCF had suspected FC; three cases were confirmed by adjudication, 22 cases were confirmed as not FC, and four cases were indeterminate. There were 22,161 pwCF exposed to any PERT, with mean PERT use time of 5.583 person-years and mean daily dose of 8328 U lipase per kg per day. All three confirmed cases and four indeterminate cases of FC occurred during current use of PERT. Incidence rates per 1000 person-years exposed were 0.0242 (95 % CI [0.0050, 0.0709]) for confirmed FC and 0.0566 (95 % CI [0.0227, 0.1166]) for indeterminate or confirmed FC. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of FC in pwCF is very low in the era of current treatment guidelines and more stringent quality standards for PERT products.

Hip Fracture Risk After Treatment with Tramadol or Codeine: An Observational Study.

INTRODUCTION: Hip fractures among older people are a major public health issue, which can impact quality of life and increase mortality within the year after they occur. A recent observational study found an increased risk of hip fracture in subjects who were new users of tramadol compared with codeine. These drugs have somewhat different indications. Tramadol is indicated for moderate to severe pain and can be used for an extended period; codeine is indicated for mild to moderate pain and cough suppression. OBJECTIVE: In this observational study, we compared the risk of hip fracture in new users of tramadol or codeine, using multiple databases and analytical methods. METHODS: Using data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink and three US claims databases, we compared the risk of hip fracture after exposure to tramadol or codeine in subjects aged 50-89 years. To ensure comparability, large-scale propensity scores were used to adjust for confounding. RESULTS: We observed a calibrated hazard ratio of 1.10 (95% calibrated confidence interval 0.99-1.21) in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink database, and a pooled estimate across the US databases yielded a calibrated hazard ratio of 1.06 (95% calibrated confidence interval 0.97-1.16). CONCLUSIONS: Our results did not demonstrate a statistically significant difference between subjects treated for pain with tramadol compared with codeine for the outcome of hip fracture risk.

Risk of retinal detachment and exposure to fluoroquinolones, common antibiotics, and febrile illness using a self-controlled case series study design: Retrospective analyses of three large healthcare databases in the US.

OBJECTIVE: The risk of retinal detachment (RD) following exposure to fluoroquinolone (FQ) has been assessed in multiple studies, however, results have been mixed. This study was designed to estimate the risk of RD following exposure to FQ, other common antibiotics, and febrile illness not treated with antibiotics (FINTA) using a self-controlled case series (SCCS) study design to reduce risk of confounding from unreported patient characteristics. DESIGN: Retrospective database analysis-SCCS. SETTING: Primary and Secondary Care. STUDY POPULATION: 40,981 patients across 3 US claims databases (IBM® MarketScan® commercial and Medicare databases, Optum Clinformatics). OUTCOME: RD. METHODS: Exposures included FQ as a class of drugs, amoxicillin, azithromycin, trimethoprim with and without sulfamethoxazole, and FINTA. For the primary analysis, all drug formulations were included. For the post hoc sensitivity analyses, only oral tablets were included. Risk windows were defined as exposure period (or FINTA duration) plus 30 days. Patients of all ages with RD and exposures in 3 US claims databases between 2012 to 2017 were included. Diagnostics included p value calibration and pre-exposure outcome analyses. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) comparing risk window time with other time were calculated. RESULTS: Our primary analysis showed an increased risk for RD in the 30 days prior to exposure to FQ or trimethoprim without sulfamethoxazole. This risk decreased but remained elevated for 30 days following first exposure. Our post-hoc analysis, which excluded ophthalmic drops, showed no increased risk for RD at any time, with FQ and other antibiotics. CONCLUSION: Our results did not suggest an association between FQ and RD. Oral FQ was not associated with an increased risk for RD during the pre- or post-exposure period. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03479736-March 21, 2018.

Baseline risk characterization of early versus later adopters of long-acting paliperidone palmitate formulations.

Early Post-Marketing Phase Vigilance (EPPV) is a unique system that encourages reporting of serious adverse reactions for medications newly introduced to Japan. When a once-monthly paliperidone palmitate formulation (PP1M) was introduced in Japan in 2013, EPPV detected a signal of increased mortality, but this signal was not subsequently confirmed. To clarify whether that signal reflected increased adverse event reporting or an atypically high baseline mortality risk among early adopters of PP1M, we evaluated the baseline risk characteristics of early, mid, and later adopters of PP1M in a Japanese database and did a similar evaluation of PP1M and the three-monthly formulation (PP3M) in two US databases. In Japan, early adopters compared with later adopters were older (mean 39.16 vs 33.70 years) but had a lower proportion of male patients (32.0% vs 44.44%), and a lower mean number of antipsychotic medications (distinct active medical substances) other than paliperidone (2.62 vs 2.85). In the United States, the baseline characteristics of early adopters of PP1M and PP3M did not suggest higher mortality risk than later adopters. These results offer no convincing evidence that the unconfirmed early signal of increased mortality with PP1M was due to increased baseline mortality risk among early adopters.

Registration of Observational Studies: perspectives from an industry-based epidemiology group.

Registration of randomized clinical trials has become standard practice and is enforced through publication policies and governmental regulations. However, the registration of observational studies remains controversial. In this commentary, we propose that a compromise can be reached on which observation should be registered based on study design and study intent.

A matched cohort study of the risk of cancer in users of becaplermin.

BACKGROUND: Becaplermin is recombinant human platelet-derived growth factor for topical administration that might plausibly be related to cancer risk. Extended follow-up of patients from clinical trials of becaplermin compared with placebo identified a relative risk of cancer of 2.8 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.6-12.8). The authors aimed to further investigate any association between becaplermin use and the occurrence of cancer by following a large cohort of patients in a clinical practice setting. METHODS: In a cohort of insured people, becaplermin initiators were matched to similar people who did not initiate becaplermin and were followed for up to 6 years for cancer incidence (up to 9 years for cancer mortality). Cancer incidence was identified from health insurance claims and validated by review of medical records. Cancer mortality was identified through linkage to the National Death Index. RESULTS: Among 1622 becaplermin initiators, there were 28 confirmed cancers and 9 cancer deaths, and among the 2809 matched comparators, there were 43 confirmed cancers and 16 cancer deaths. There was no increased risk of cancer with becaplermin (hazard ratio, 1.2; 95% CI, 0.7-1.9). Cancer mortality through 2003 was increased (rate ratio [RR] = 5.2; 95% CI, 1.7-17.6) among subjects with 3 or more dispensings. Additional follow-up through 2006 indicated no elevated cancer mortality risk overall (RR, 1.0; 95% CI, 0.5-2.3) and no statistically significant increase in the subgroup with more than 3 dispensings (RR, 2.4; 95% CI, 0.8-7.4). CONCLUSIONS: Becaplermin does not appear to increase the risk of cancer or cancer mortality.

Stroke Risk Among Non-Elderly Users of Haloperidol or First-Generation Antipsychotics vs Second-Generation Antipsychotics: A Cohort Study from a US Health Insurance Claims Database.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have reported an increased risk of stroke in patients taking antipsychotics. However, most of these studies have been conducted in the elderly population. OBJECTIVE: We estimated stroke risk in new users of any first-generation antipsychotic or haloperidol, vs second-generation antipsychotics among patients aged 18-64 years without a recent dementia diagnosis and, separately, regardless of a recent dementia diagnosis. METHODS: Data were obtained from IBM MarketScan® Commercial Database (1 January, 2001-31 December, 2017). Among new users without a recent dementia diagnosis, stroke risk for first-generation antipsychotics (FGAw/oD cohort) or haloperidol (HALw/oD cohort) was compared with second-generation antipsychotics (SGAw/oD cohort). A similar comparison was conducted among new users regardless of dementia diagnosis: first-generation antipsychotics (FGA cohort) or haloperidol (HAL cohort) vs second-generation antipsychotics (SGA cohort). Crude incident stroke rates within each cohort were determined. For hazard ratios, three propensity score matching strategies were used: unadjusted (crude), Sentinel propensity score strategy, and large-scale regularized regression model (adapted propensity score strategy). RESULTS: Each cohort included ≥12,000 patients. The incident rates for stroke per 1000 person-years were 3.10 (FGAw/oD), 5.99 (HALw/oD), 0.85 (SGAw/oD), 3.14 (FGA), 6.12 (HAL), and 0.90 (SGA). Pre-planned analysis with adapted propensity score strategy matching yielded calibrated hazard ratios for stroke: FGAw/oD vs SGAw/oD: 2.05 (calibrated confidence interval 1.13-3.89); HALw/oD vs SGAw/oD: 2.47 (1.14-5.48), FGA vs SGA: 1.64 (0.94-2.97), and HAL vs SGA: 1.98 (0.99-4.00). A post-hoc sensitivity analysis to address potential bias introduced by the 2015 change from the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision to the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision yielded calibrated hazard ratios for FGAw/oD vs SGAw/oD: 1.59 (0.87-3.01), HALw/oD vs SGAw/oD: 2.79 (1.24-6.42), FGA vs SGA: 1.41 (0.79-2.62), and HAL vs SGA: 3.47 (1.63-7.92). CONCLUSIONS: Among adults aged ≤64 years, without a recent dementia diagnosis, stroke risk is higher among those exposed to haloperidol compared with those exposed to second-generation antipsychotics.

Risk of aortic aneurysm and dissection following exposure to fluoroquinolones, common antibiotics, and febrile illness using a self-controlled case series study design: Retrospective analyses of three large healthcare databases in the US.

OBJECTIVE: Recent observational studies suggest increased aortic aneurysm or dissection (AAD) risk following fluoroquinolone (FQ) exposure but acknowledge potential for residual bias from unreported patient characteristics. The objective of our study is to evaluate the potential association between FQ, other common antibiotics and febrile illness with risk of AAD using a self-controlled case series (SCCS) study design. DESIGN: Retrospective database analysis-SCCS. SETTING: Primary and Secondary Care. STUDY POPULATION: 51,898 patients across 3 US claims databases (IBM® MarketScan® commercial and Medicare databases, Optum Clinformatics). EXPOSURE: FQ or other common antibiotics or febrile illness. OUTCOME: AAD. METHODS: We studied patients with exposures and AAD between 2012 and 2017 in 3 databases. Risk windows were defined as exposure period plus 30 days. Diagnostic analyses included p-value calibration to account for residual error using negative control exposures (NCE), and pre-exposure outcome analyses to evaluate exposure-outcome timing. The measure of association was the incidence rate ratio (IRR) comparing exposed and unexposed time. RESULTS: Most NCEs produced effect estimates greater than the hypothetical null, indicating positive residual error; calibrated p (Cp) values were therefore used. The IRR following FQ exposure ranged from 1.13 (95% CI: 1.04-1.22 -Cp: 0.503) to 1.63 (95% CI: 1.45-1.84 -Cp: 0.329). An AAD event peak was identified 60 days before first FQ exposure, with IRR increasing between the 60- to 30- and 29- to 1-day pre-exposure periods. It is uncertain how much this pre-exposure AAD event peak reflects confounding versus increased antibiotic use after a surgical correction of AADs. CONCLUSION: This study does not confirm prior studies. Using Cp values to account for residual error, the observed FQ-AAD association cannot be interpreted as significant. Additionally, an AAD event surge in the 60 days before FQ exposure is consistent with confounding by indication, or increased use of antibiotics post-surgery. REGISTRATION: NCT03479736.

Medications for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Japan: A retrospective cohort study of label compliance.

AIM: To assess label compliance in prescription of medications approved for treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Japan at the time of this study: methylphenidate (MPH), atomoxetine, and guanfacine. METHODS: Retrospective descriptive study was conducted in prevalent-user cohorts from the Japan Medical Data Center database. Patients who were prescribed a study drug between January 1, 2013 and September 30, 2018 and were in the database for ≥30 days were included. A prescription was considered compliant if all 4 criteria were satisfied: appropriate age, daily dose not exceeding the approved maximum, no contraindicated concurrent medications, and no contraindicated conditions. RESULTS: Among 17 418 patients who were prescribed a study drug during 2013-2018, 73% were male and 53% were children (aged <18 years). Fewer than 2% of prescriptions were for patients outside the approved age, 10%-13% of patients in the atomoxetine and MPH cohorts received ≥1 prescription exceeding maximum approved dose, no patients were co-prescribed a contraindicated medication, and 16%-18% of patients in the MPH cohorts had ≥1 contraindicated condition. During their first 500 days of use, for approximately 73%-86% of patients, all prescriptions were compliant with all label requirements. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients exposed to ADHD medications in Japan during 2013-2018, nearly all prescriptions for these medications were label-compliant for age. For >85% of patients, all prescriptions were label-compliant for dose, and for approximately 80%, all prescriptions were label-compliant for contraindicated conditions. We did not find evidence of widespread abuse or noncompliant use of prescribed ADHD medications.

Risk of serious ventricular arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death in a cohort of users of domperidone: a nested case-control study.

PURPOSE: Limited information from spontaneous reports and results of two case-control studies raised concern about the cardiotoxicity of oral domperidone therapy. This case-control study nested in a retrospective cohort evaluated the combined risk of serious ventricular arrhythmia (SVA) and sudden cardiac death (SCD) in users of domperidone compared with users of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), or non-users of these medications. METHODS: A cohort of users of domperidone or a PPI from 1990 to 2005 was identified from existing electronic databases of Saskatchewan Health. Possible cases of SVA/SCD were identified using hospital discharge and vital statistics codes. SVA cases were validated by cardiologist review of abstracted hospital medical charts. Up to four controls were matched to each case by index date, year of birth, sex, and diabetes status. The odds ratio (OR) of current domperidone exposure relative to non-use or to current PPI exposure was estimated and adjusted for possible confounding variables using conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: From 83 212 individuals in the exposure cohort we identified 1608 cases, 49 SVA and 1559 SCD (mean age 79.4 years, females 52.9%, diabetes 22.3%) and 6428 matched controls. The adjusted OR for SVA/SCD with current domperidone use compared with non-use was (1.59, 95%CI: 1.28-1.98), or compared with current PPI use was (1.44, 95%CI: 1.12-1.86). In stratified analyses adjusted ORs were numerically higher in males, older subjects, and non-diabetics. CONCLUSIONS: The increased risk of SVA/SCD for current domperidone users remained after adjustment for multiple covariates. The risk may vary among subgroups of exposed individuals.

Dose patterns in commercially insured subjects chronically exposed to opioids: a large cohort study in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Little data exist on how opioid doses vary with the length of exposure among chronic opioid users. METHODS: To characterize the change in the dosage of opioids over time, a retrospective cohort study using the PharMetrics database for the years 1999 through 2008 was conducted. Individuals exposed to opioids in 2000 who had 2 opioid dispensings at least 6 months apart and were opioid naive (did not receive any opioid 6 month before their exposure in 2000) were included. The date of the first dispensing in 2000 was defined as the index date and the dispensing had to be for a strong and full agonist opioid. All opioid doses were converted to oral morphine equivalent doses. Exposure was classified as continuous or intermittent. Mean, median, interquartile range, and 95th percentile of opioid dose over 6-month periods, as well as the percentage of subjects who ever received a high or very high opioid dose, were calculated. RESULTS: Among the 48,986 subjects, the mean age was 44.5 years and 54.5% were women. Intermittent exposure was observed in 99% of subjects; continuous exposure was observed in 1% of subjects. The mean duration of exposure for the subjects who were continuously exposed to opioids was 477 days. In subjects with no cancer diagnosis who were continuously exposed to opioids, the mean, 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of dose was stable during the first 2 years of use, but the 95th percentile increased. Seven percent of them were exposed to doses of 180 mg or more of morphine at some point. CONCLUSIONS: Dose escalation is uncommon in subjects with intermittent exposure to opioids. For subjects with continuous exposure to opioids who have cancer, doses rise substantially with time. For those without cancer, doses remain relatively stable for the first 2 years of use, but subsequently increase. Seven percent of subjects with no cancer diagnosis will be exposed to daily doses of 180 mg or more of morphine equivalent at some point.

Evaluation of disability in patients exposed to fluoroquinolones.

BACKGROUND: Fluoroquinolones are used for conditions including sinusitis, bronchitis, and urinary tract infections. It has been suggested that exposure to fluoroquinolones for these conditions is associated with disability resulting from adverse events in 2 or more organ systems. The objectives were to: describe: 1) fluoroquinolone, azithromycin, and sulfamethoxazole / trimethoprim utilization for these infections; 2) the rate of disability associated with exposure to each of these antibiotic classes and adverse events in 2 or more system organ classes, and 3) compare outcome rates for each of the antibiotic classes. METHODS: This study was conducted using administrative data to mitigate the limitations of spontaneous reports. The sampling frame was a U.S. population with both medical and disability insurance, including patients with the above uncomplicated infections who were prescribed the antibiotics of interest. The primary outcome was an incident short-term disability claim associated with adverse events in 2 different organ systems within 120 days of exposure. A matched analysis was used to compare the outcome for patients receiving each of the drug classes. RESULTS: After propensity score matching, there were 119,653 individuals in each of the exposure groups. There were 264 fluoroquinolone associated disability events and 243 azithromycin/ sulfamethoxazole associated disability events (relative risk =1.09 (95% CI: 0.92-1.30; calibrated p = 0.84)). The results were not significantly different from the null hypothesis of no difference between groups. CONCLUSION: Comparative assessments are difficult to conduct in spontaneous reports. This examination of disability associated with adverse events in different system organ classes showed no difference between fluoroquinolones and azithromycin or sulfamethoxazole in administrative data.

Developing Predictive Models to Determine Patients in End-of-Life Care in Administrative Datasets.

INTRODUCTION: In observational studies with mortality endpoints, one needs to consider how to account for subjects whose interventions appear to be part of 'end-of-life' care. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to develop a diagnostic predictive model to identify those in end-of-life care at the time of a drug exposure. METHODS: We used data from four administrative claims datasets from 2000 to 2017. The index date was the date of the first prescription for the last new drug subjects received during their observation period. The outcome of end-of-life care was determined by the presence of one or more codes indicating terminal or hospice care. Models were developed using regularized logistic regression. Internal validation was through examination of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and through model calibration in a 25% subset of the data held back from model training. External validation was through examination of the AUC after applying the model learned on one dataset to the three other datasets. RESULTS: The models showed excellent performance characteristics. Internal validation resulted in AUCs ranging from 0.918 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.905-0.930) to 0.983 (95% CI 0.978-0.987) for the four different datasets. Calibration results were also very good, with slopes near unity. External validation also produced very good to excellent performance metrics, with AUCs ranging from 0.840 (95% CI 0.834-0.846) to 0.956 (95% CI 0.952-0.960). CONCLUSION: These results show that developing diagnostic predictive models for determining subjects in end-of-life care at the time of a drug treatment is possible and may improve the validity of the risk profile for those treatments.