Publications by authors named "Abraham Hartzema"
Introduction And Objective: Receipt of opioid agonist treatment during early and late pregnancy for opioid use disorder may relate to varying perinatal risks. We aimed to assess the effect of time-varying prenatal exposure to opioid agonist treatment using buprenorphine or methadone on adverse neonatal and pregnancy outcomes.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of pregnant women with opioid use disorder using Rhode Island Medicaid claims data and vital statistics during 2008-16.
Background: Use of bariatric surgery has increased dramatically in the USA. However, there are growing concerns regarding the safety outcomes of different bariatric procedures. We aim to compare the safety of sleeve gastrectomy (SG) and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), which includes hospital readmissions, emergency room (ER) visits, gastrointestinal bleeding, and revisional surgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Despite the increase in the number of bariatric surgeries performed, little is known about the impact of the surgery on drug absorption. Unpredictability is assumed with drugs, given the anatomical changes after surgery.
Objective: To evaluate the impact of bariatric surgery on drug absorption based on the type of procedure performed.
Background: Since the 1990s, the number of bariatric surgeries has dramatically increased, including the number of bariatric centers in the United States; no recent studies have yet assessed trends of bariatric surgery. This study aims to assess the trends of bariatric surgery and the change in utilization by the type of surgery, from 2006 to 2015, using real-world data.
Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of MarketScan databases of privately insured beneficiaries aged equal to or more than 18 years, to assess the annual incidence rate of bariatric surgery type of surgery from 2006 to 2015.
Challenges facing drug utilization research in the Latin American region.
Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf
November 2020
Purpose: The International Society of Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE) in collaboration with the Latin America Drug Utilization Research Group (LatAm DURG), the Medicines Utilization Research in Africa (MURIA) group, and the Uppsala Monitoring Center, is leading an initiative to understand challenges to drug utilization research (DUR) in the Latin American (LatAm) and African regions with the goal of communicating results and proposing solutions to these challenges in four scientific publications. The purpose of this first manuscript is to identify the main challenges associated with DUR in the LatAm region.
Methods: Drug utilization (DU) researchers in the LatAm region voluntarily participated in multiple discussions, contributed with local data and reviewed successive drafts and the final manuscript.
Aim: To examine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and metabolically healthy status (MHS) in adults with excess weight, who express no desire to lose weight (DLW).
Methods: We used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2011-2016) to conduct a cross-sectional analysis of 4509 adults with excess weight. The prevalence of MetS and MHS was estimated by a DLW status.
Background: Codeine has a spasmodic effect on sphincter of Oddi and is suspected to cause acute pancreatitis in patients with a history of cholecystectomy.
Aims: To assess the association between codeine use and acute pancreatitis in patients with a previous cholecystectomy.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective nested case-control study using the 2005-2015 MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database.
Background: Despite the rising incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), data evaluating trends in maternal risk factors associated with NAS have not been available for recent years, a period characterized by declining opioid prescriptions. The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of opioid- and non-opioid-related factors associated with NAS, and by mutually exclusive subgroups of deliveries without prescription-opioid use, with prescription-opioid use, and with opioid-use disorder (OUD).
Methods: A cohort of pregnancies resulting in live births in a commercial claims data base in 2011-2015 was identified.
Background And Aims: Medication persistence, defined as the time from drug initiation to discontinuation of therapy, has been suggested as a proxy for real-world therapeutic benefit and safety. This study seeks to compare the persistence of biologic drugs among patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed IBD were included in a retrospective study using Truven MarketScan database.
Objective: To examine prescribing of drugs treating or exacerbating restless legs syndrome (RLS) during U.S. physician office visits for RLS for the years 2007-2015; and to assess potential prescribing predictors of these drugs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Little is known about the effectiveness of recombinant human bone morphogenetic proteins (rhBMPs) in reducing the demand for opioids after surgery. We investigated the association between rhBMP use and the likelihood of achieving opioid independence and changes in opioid demand in the first postoperative year.
Methods: Using the Multi-Payer Claims Database from 2007 to 2010, patients aged >20 years who had undergone a degenerative disc disease-indicated lumbar fusion procedure and had had ≥1 opioid prescription in the 3 months before surgery were identified.
Objectives: To evaluate the risk of new-onset depression in a cohort of US adult patients initiating lipophilic statin therapy compared to hydrophilic statin therapy.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting: Large US commercial claims database PARTICIPANTS: 1:1 propensity score matched cohort of lipophilic (atorvastatin, lovastatin and simvastatin) and hydrophilic (pravastatin and rosuvastatin) statin initiators between January 2009 to June 2015.
Study Objectives: The objective of this study is to assess adherence and persistence of ropinirole, pramipexole, and gabapentin; to investigate factors associated with non-adherence and non-persistence in restless legs syndrome (RLS) patients.
Methods: We used the 2008-2014 Marketscan Research Databases to conduct a retrospective data analysis. The study included newly diagnosed RLS patients who initiated ropinirole, pramipexole, or gabapentin therapy.
Background: Prices for some generic drugs have increased in recent years, adversely affecting patients who rely on them.
Objective: To determine the association between market competition levels and the change in generic drug prices in the United States.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Purpose: Results of a study to determine trends in oral anticoagulant (OAC) use and OAC switching in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) or atrial flutter are presented.
Methods: Warfarin has been the most prescribed anticoagulant in patients with AF for decades. Since 2010, several direct OACs (DOACs) have gained U.
Background: Studies have shown conflicting information regarding the association between the age at menarche and/or menopause and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in older women. This study aimed to determine whether a longer duration of reproductive years in older women in the U.S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Application of latent variable models in medical research are becoming increasingly popular. A latent trait model is developed to combine rare birth defect outcomes in an index of infant morbidity.
Methods: This study employed four statewide, retrospective 10-year data sources (1999 to 2009).
Purpose: To explore changes in stimulant utilization and pre-treatment electrocardiography (ECG) screening in response to cardiovascular (CV) safety concerns.
Methods: Two source populations were established from Florida Medicaid Fee-for-service beneficiaries between 2001 and 2008: approximately 44 571 newly diagnosed attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder patients and 33 000 new stimulant users. Time-series design and Joinpoint analysis were used to describe monthly trend changes in stimulant initiation, persistence, dosing, and pre-treatment ECG screening.
Introduction: An often key component to coordinating surveillance activities across distributed networks is the design and implementation of a common data model (CDM). The purpose of this study was to evaluate two drug safety surveillance CDMs from an ecosystem perspective to better understand how differences in CDMs and analytic tools affect usability and interpretation of results.
Methods: Humana claims data from 2007 to 2012 were mapped to Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) and Mini-Sentinel CDMs.
Objective: To examine the comparative effectiveness of inhaled long-acting beta-agonist (LABA), inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), and ICS/LABA combinations.
Methods: We used a retrospective cohort design of patients older than 12 years with asthma diagnosis in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink to evaluate asthma-related morbidity measured by oral corticosteroid (OCS) initiation within 12 months of initiating LABAs, ICSs, or ICSs/LABAs. Asthma severity 12 months before drug initiation (use of OCSs, asthma-related hospital or emergency department visits, and number of short-acting beta-agonist prescriptions) and during follow-up (short-acting beta-agonist prescriptions and total number of asthma drug classes) was adjusted as a time-varying variable via marginal structural models.
Objective: The study aims were to investigate secular trends in antiepileptic drug (AED) use in women during pregnancy, and to compare the use of first- and second-generation AEDs.
Methods: Study participants consisted of female Florida Medicaid beneficiaries, older than 15 years, and pregnant within the time period 1999 to 2009. Fifteen AEDs were categorized into first and second generation of AEDs.
The entire drug safety enterprise has a need to search, retrieve, evaluate, and synthesize scientific evidence more efficiently. This discovery and synthesis process would be greatly accelerated through access to a common framework that brings all relevant information sources together within a standardized structure. This presents an opportunity to establish an open-source community effort to develop a global knowledge base, one that brings together and standardizes all available information for all drugs and all health outcomes of interest (HOIs) from all electronic sources pertinent to drug safety.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF