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Biomedical subjects

E A Bortnichak

Publications and source records attributed to E A Bortnichak.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Proactive safety surveillance.

Growth in health information systems presents opportunities to enhance postmarketing safety surveillance of medical products. Spontaneous suspected side effect reports provide the foundation, but we need to 'proactively' improve their quality and our strategies to seek signals. In our more familiar 'reactive' mode, we examine hypotheses from inquiries or publicity. Such responsive evaluations remain essential but may miss latent information on unsuspected risks. Efficient techniques to disclose hidden clusters and associations may emerge through adaptation of approaches from industrial quality control and other disciplines. Data-driven techniques like exploratory analysis, control charts, and time series modeling may help in sifting through accumulated data and in screening consecutive submissions to discern hints of new product hazards or of more specific understanding about previously identified potential side effects. We also need to cultivate non-spontaneous data for hypothesis generation as well as testing, the systematic epidemiologic evaluation of questions and concerns. This hypothesis testing function will assume greater importance if proactive safety surveillance methods yield larger numbers of putatively positive findings. Whether from spontaneous reports or other sources, signals that could have arisen by chance alone usually represent only clues to potential hazards until or unless they can be verified through independent studies.

Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions↗
PubMed1999

Epidemiologists and adverse event data--a challenge to the field.

Spontaneous adverse event reports, albeit biased and incomplete data, remain very important and, frequently, are the sole data source to rely on during the postmarketing phase for regulatory decision making. However, little progress has been made in the past decade to improve the utility of these essential data. Further research that helps to improve our understanding of the extent and characteristics of adverse event reporting should be done to ensure the maximum, appropriate utilization of this highly cost-efficient data source. In addition, the authors challenge that research can and should be done to advance our understanding of the behaviour and motivations of those who report adverse events so as to improve the quality and the quantity of meaningful spontaneous adverse event reports.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1995

Peptic ulcer and gastrointestinal hemorrhage associated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use in patients younger than 65 years. A large health maintenance organization cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are associated with an elevated risk of peptic ulcer and upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage, but published reports have lacked information on rates of outpatient disease, have concentrated on the elderly, and have not provided comparisons of rates for specific types of NSAIDs. METHODS: We compared incidence rates of peptic ulcer and upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage in 68 028 people younger than 65 years who used diclofenac sodium, naproxen, piroxicam, or sulindac, and who were members of a network of health maintenance organizations. We reviewed automated insurance claims data and medical records to ascertain cases and included conditions treated on an outpatient basis. RESULTS: Medical claims data were adequate for crude identification of potential cases, but review of medical records led to rejection of 63% of these, representing either no abnormality or diseases other than peptic ulcer or upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Of the total 112 cases, 64 (57%) were treated as outpatients. The crude incidence rate per 1000 person-years in users of any current, recent, or past NSAID was 2.2 and in distant-past users of NSAIDs was 0.75. For diclofenac, naproxen, piroxicam, and sulindac, we found a consistent pattern of decreasing NSAID effects from current to recent to past exposure. The risk of peptic ulcer or upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage was 1.6 cases per 1000 people using NSAIDs. CONCLUSIONS: Combining use of automated claims records with review of medical records promotes efficiency while maintaining specificity of case ascertainment. This study, with 57% of cases treated as outpatients, had results consistent with other published reports that were based on hospitalized patients. Within the limits of statistical error, the incidence rates of peptic ulcer and upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage appeared to be similar for the various NSAIDs studied.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

The infrequency of liver function testing in patients using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the monitoring of liver function for patients using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), we reviewed the patterns of liver function testing in a medium-sized health maintenance organization. METHODS: We examined the interval between start of therapy and first performance of a liver function test during courses of therapy of the NSAIDs diclofenac sodium, naproxen and naproxen sodium, and piroxicam. For comparison, we also studied courses of lovastatin as a "positive control," in which the anticipated frequency of liver function testing was high. RESULTS: The frequency of liver function tests in patients using NSAIDs was generally low, although testing was more common in patients who used diclofenac. The probability of liver function testing was higher for patients treated in recent calendar years, for patients treated by rheumatologists, for patients who previously used NSAIDs, and for patients who had undergone a liver function test sometime in the 6 months preceding the onset of therapy. CONCLUSION: Physicians ordered liver function tests less frequently than recommended, but the observed testing patterns appear rational in light of the very low reported frequency of serious hepatic disease in large, monitored populations of patients using NSAIDs.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

Piroxicam in recent epidemiologic studies.

Data from nine epidemiologic studies indicate that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as a class are much better tolerated by the gastrointestinal tract than is aspirin, and that piroxicam, specifically, is at least as well tolerated as other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1986

An evaluation of spontaneous adverse drug reaction monitoring systems.

The Food and Drug Administration maintains an adverse drug reaction reporting system. Physicians report suspected adverse reactions that occur while a patient is taking a drug; reporting is voluntary and spontaneous. Data from spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting systems are designed to signal that rare, unsuspected adverse reactions exist as a result of using a specific drug. Problems arise when attempts are made to use such data for other purposes. Specifically, spontaneous adverse drug reaction data, such as those published by the Food and Drug Administration, are inappropriate for calculating actual adverse drug reaction rates for specific drugs or for making safety comparisons among drugs. This is because these data are subject to numerous biases that can be easily identified and described but not easily corrected. As a result, data from spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting systems bear little relationship to the actual incidence of adverse drug reactions.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

The association between cholesterol cholelithiasis and coronary heart disease in Framingham, Massachusetts.

A relationship between cholesterol gallstone disease and atherosclerosis or its sequellae has long been postulated but has never been adequately proven. Data for this investigation of the relationship of diagnosed cholesterol cholelithiasis to subsequent incident coronary heart disease were obtained from a review of the pre-existing prospectively collected medical records of the 5,209 individuals followed since 1952 as members of the original cohort of the Framingham Heart Study. Preliminary univariate examination of these data, making no correction for time ordering of the conditions or for shared risk factors, indicated a significant modest positive association in men but no relationship in women. Logistic multiple regression analyses, allowing for the effects of time ordering and for eight standard coronary disease risk factors, confirmed these findings. The authors speculate that the presence of cholesterol gallstones in male patients may be indicative of an unfavorable lipoprotein profile. These results have clinical implications in that male gallstone patients are at increased risk for subsequent coronary disease and should be monitored accordingly. This investigation marks the first time that a relationship between these conditions has been established using a longitudinal cohort study approach.

Adult↗