Emergency hospitalizations for unsupervised prescription medication ingestions by young children.

Background: Emergency department visits and subsequent hospitalizations of young children after unsupervised ingestions of prescription medications are increasing despite widespread use of child-resistant packaging and caregiver education efforts. Data on the medications implicated in ingestions are limited but could help identify prevention priorities and intervention strategies.

Methods: We used nationally representative adverse drug event data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance project and national retail pharmacy prescription data from IMS Health to estimate the frequency and rates of emergency hospitalizations for unsupervised prescription medication ingestions by young children (2007-2011).

Use of antidiabetic drugs in the U.S., 2003-2012.

Objective: To describe market trends for antidiabetic drugs, focusing on newly approved drugs, concomitant use of antidiabetic drugs, and effects of safety concerns and access restrictions on thiazolidinedione use.

Research Design And Methods: Nationally projected data on antidiabetic prescriptions for adults dispensed from U.S.

Trends in osteoporosis treatment with oral and intravenous bisphosphonates in the United States, 2002-2012.

Bisphosphonates have been widely prescribed to postmenopausal women for treatment and prevention of osteoporosis. Given a background of reports of recent safety problems, questions about optimal duration of use, and the patent expiration of Fosamax in February 2008, we accessed data from pharmaceutical marketing research databases to describe trends in dispensed prescriptions and sales of oral bisphosphonates, characteristics of patients and prescribers, and sales of intravenous bisphosphonates for osteoporosis treatment. An estimated 21.

Lower risk of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in pituitary growth hormone recipients initiating treatment after 1977.

Context: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) caused by contaminated cadaveric pituitary-derived human GH (hGH) has been responsible for hundreds of deaths worldwide. Studies of U.S.

Use of parenteral iron products and serious anaphylactic-type reactions.

Controversy exists about the safety of the parenteral iron dextran products, Dexferrum and INFeD, which have been associated with rare, serious anaphylactic-type reactions. In the United States, their product labels carry boxed warnings of this adverse event; some have called for the withdrawal from marketing of the higher molecular weight Dexferrum. Between 2002 and 2007, sales of Dexferrum, INFeD, and iron gluconate Ferrlecit declined 32.

Bleeding complications with warfarin use: a prevalent adverse effect resulting in regulatory action.

Background: Warfarin sodium is widely used and causes bleeding; a review might suggest the need for regulatory action by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Methods: We accessed warfarin prescriptions from the National Prescription Audit Plus database of IMS Health (Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania), adverse event reports submitted to the FDA, deaths due to therapeutic use of anticoagulants from vital statistics data, and warfarin bleeding complications from national hospital emergency department data.

Results: The number of dispensed outpatient prescriptions for warfarin increased 45%, from 21 million in 1998 to nearly 31 million in 2004.

Surveillance of prescription drug-related mortality using death certificate data.

Background: The prescription drugs or drug classes that are most frequently associated with death in the US might be identifiable from death certificate data.

Objective: To identify the drugs/drug classes associated with the greatest numbers of deaths in the US that might be considered as possible targets for prevention.

Study Design: US vital statistics data were accessed in order to identify International Classification of Diseases (10th Revision) [ICD-10] codes indicating that prescription drugs had caused or contributed to death and diseases with significant drug-related mortality.

Trends in outpatient prescription drug use and related costs in the US: 1998-2003.

Objective: To present a brief synopsis of trends in the number of prescriptions and retail costs of outpatient drugs dispensed in the US between 1998 and 2003.

Methods: Data were extracted from IMS Health, the National Prescription Audit Plus and the National Disease and Therapeutic Index databases.

Results: In 1998, 2.

Deaths attributed to X-ray contrast media on U.S. death certificates.

Objective: The objectives of our study were to determine the number, rate, and types of deaths attributed to specific X-ray contrast media on the basis of U.S. death certificates and to attempt to assess the comparative safety of commonly used diagnostic X-ray contrast agents using death certificate information.

Adverse drug event surveillance and drug withdrawals in the United States, 1969-2002: the importance of reporting suspected reactions.

Background: The Adverse Event Reporting System is the primary surveillance database used by the Food and Drug Administration for identifying postmarketing drug safety problems.

Methods: We analyzed all reports of suspected adverse drug reactions submitted to the Food and Drug Administration from the inception of the Adverse Event Reporting System database in 1969 through December 2002. We documented drug withdrawals and restricted distribution programs based on safety concerns.

Use of menopausal hormones in the United States, 1992 through June, 2003.

Purpose: The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study that documented an unfavorable benefit to risk ratio of Prempro and subsequently an increased risk of stroke with menopausal estrogen prompted us to investigate the use during 1992 through June 2003 of menopausal hormones in the United States.

Methods: Two pharmaceutical research databases from IMS Health, the National Prescription Audit Plus and the National Disease and Therapeutic Index, were accessed and analyzed.

Results: The number of dispensed outpatient prescriptions for oral menopausal estrogens and oral combination estrogen-progestins increased 2.

Long-term mortality in the United States cohort of pituitary-derived growth hormone recipients.

Objective: Patients who received pituitary-derived growth hormone (GH) are at excess risk of mortality from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. We investigated whether they were at increased risk of death from other conditions, particularly preventable conditions.

Study Design: A cohort (N=6107) from known US pituitary-derived GH recipients (treated 1963-1985) was studied.

Rapid increase in the use of oral antidiabetic drugs in the United States, 1990-2001.

Objective: To describe the use of oral antidiabetic drugs for management of type 2 diabetes in the U.S. from 1990 through 2001.

Statin use and the risk of breast cancer.

The study objective was to investigate a possible association between statin use and breast cancer (BRCA). An historical cohort design based on Saskatchewan's population health services databases was used. All eligible women with > or = 1 statin prescription from 1989 to mid-1997 and an age-sex-matched nonexposed group were followed up to 8.

Use of medications for erectile dysfunction in the United States, 1996 through 2001.

Purpose: We describe the use during 1996 through 2001 of the primary medications approved in the United States for treatment of erectile dysfunction, namely alprostadil injection and urethral suppository, and sildenafil. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two pharmaceutical research data bases, the National Prescription Audit Plus, and National Disease and Therapeutic Index, were accessed and analyzed. Ancillary data were obtained from 2 health plans.