8 Sep 2012 09:00am to 04:00pm

Introduction to Pharmacoepidemiology

Workshop
Event Location
University of South Australia
Australia
Speakers
Dr M Alan Brockhart
Department of Epidemiology, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC - Chapel Hill, USA

With the growing availability of large healthcare databases, non-experimental studies of prescription medications are becoming increasingly common. 

However, appropriate design and analysis of such studies can be challenging.  In this workshop we provide an intensive introduction to the field of pharmacoepidemiology. 

We review the data used in pharmacoepidemiology and the central threats to validity of studies medications, including the healthy user bias, immortal person time bias, and various types of confounding bias. We then discuss approaches to mitigate these biases through design and analysis. 

The workshop will cover the comparative new user design, self-controlled designs, propensity score methods, and instrumental variable approaches.  We will also discuss some additional topics in the field, including studies of medication adherence, disparities, and active safety surveillance of medical products.