Validation of cardiovascular outcomes and risk factors in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink in the United Kingdom.

Purpose: Strategies to identify and validate acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke in primary-care electronic records may impact effect measures, but to an unknown extent. Additionally, the validity of cardiovascular risk factors that could act as confounders in studies on those endpoints has not been thoroughly assessed in the United Kingdom Clinical Practice Research Datalink's (CPRD's) GOLD database. We explored the validity of algorithms to identify cardiovascular outcomes and risk factors and evaluated different outcome-identification strategies using these algorithms for estimation of adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRRs).

Risk of acute myocardial infarction during use of individual NSAIDs: A nested case-control study from the SOS project.

Background: Use of selective COX-2 non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (coxibs) has been associated with an increased risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, the risk of AMI has only been studied for very few NSAIDs that are frequently used.

Objectives: To estimate the risk of AMI for individual NSAIDs.

Risk of ischemic stroke and the use of individual non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: A multi-country European database study within the SOS Project.

Background And Purpose: A multi-country European study using data from six healthcare databases from four countries was performed to evaluate in a large study population (>32 million) the risk of ischemic stroke (IS) associated with individual NSAIDs and to assess the impact of risk factors of IS and co-medication.

Methods: Case-control study nested in a cohort of new NSAID users. For each case, up to 100 sex- and age-matched controls were selected and confounder-adjusted odds ratios for current use of individual NSAIDs compared to past use calculated.

Variation in Cardiovascular Risk Related to Individual Antimuscarinic Drugs Used to Treat Overactive Bladder: A UK Cohort Study.

Background: Blocking muscarinic receptors could have an effect on cardiac function, especially among elderly patients with overactive bladder (OAB).

Study Objective: To investigate the risk of cardiovascular (CV) events in users of antimuscarinic drugs to treat OAB.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Cohort study of new users of darifenacin, fesoterodine, oxybutynin, solifenacin, tolterodine, or trospium, 18 years or older, in the United Kingdom's Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), 2004-2012.

Methodological challenges when evaluating potential off-label prescribing of drugs using electronic health care databases: A case study of dabigatran etexilate in Europe.

Purpose: To report and discuss estimated prevalence of potential off-label use and associated methodological challenges using a case study of dabigatran.

Methods: Observational, cross-sectional study using 3 databases with different types of clinical information available: Cegedim Strategic Data Longitudinal Patient Database (CSD-LPD), France (cardiologist panel, n = 1706; general practitioner panel, n = 2813; primary care data); National Health Databases, Denmark (n = 28 619; hospital episodes and dispensed ambulatory medications); and Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), UK (linkable to Hospital Episode Statistics [HES], n = 2150; not linkable, n = 1285; primary care data plus hospital data for HES-linkable patients).

Study Period: August 2011 to August 2015.