Longitudinal Study of Comorbidities and Clinical Outcomes in Persons with Gallstone Disease Using Electronic Health Records.

Background: Gallstone disease (GSD) is common and leads to significant morbidity, mortality, and health care utilization in the USA. We examined comorbidities and clinical outcomes among persons with GSD using electronic health records (EHR).

Methods: In this retrospective study of 1,381,004 adults, GSD was defined by ICD-9 code 574 or ICD-10 code K80 using Optum® longitudinal EHR from January 2007 to March 2021.

Readmission and Mortality After Hospitalization With Acute Kidney Injury.

Rationale & Objective: Acute kidney injury (AKI) carries high rates of morbidity and mortality. This study quantified various short- and long-term outcomes after hospitalization with AKI.

Study Design: Retrospective propensity score (PS)-matched cohort study.

Identifying the Prescribing Physician in US Healthcare Claims Data.

Background: Identifying the prescribing physician may be essential in studies that use health care claims databases but often there is no single consistent physician identifier (ID) available that spans an entire database and no standard methods have emerged to address this issue.

Methods: Unique Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) numbers (N=36,721) were identified from the pharmacy claims of a cohort of postmenopausal (55+) initiators of osteoporosis medications (2008-2011) in the United Healthcare database. The proportion of times a Provider ID appeared at least once on the outpatient medical service claims (OMSCs) in the 14 days before a new prescription (Rx) out of the total number of new Rxs for each DEA was calculated and the Provider ID with the highest proportion was considered the most likely match to the DEA.

Publication of comparative effectiveness research has not increased in high-impact medical journals, 2004-2013.

Objective: To explore the impact of increasing interest and investment in patient-centered research, this study sought to describe patterns of comparative effectiveness research (CER) and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in pharmacologic intervention studies published in widely read medical journals from 2004-2013.

Design And Setting: We identified 2335 articles published in five widely read medical journals from 2004-2013 with ≥1 intervention meeting the US Food and Drug Administration's definitions for a drug, biologic, or vaccine. Six trained reviewers extracted characteristics from a 20% random sample of articles (468 studies).

Comparison of study designs used to detect and characterize pharmacogenomic interactions in nonexperimental studies: a simulation study.

Objectives: Adverse drug reactions are common, serious, difficult to predict, and may be influenced by genetics, prompting the increasing popularity of pharmacogenomic studies. Many pharmacogenomic studies are conducted in nonexperimental settings, yet little is known about the influence of confounding by contraindication. We, therefore, compared the two designs [the overall population (OPD) and the treated-only (TOD) design] by simulating a pharmacogenomic study of the ECG QT interval (QT).

Risk of fractures requiring hospitalization after an initial prescription for zolpidem, alprazolam, lorazepam, or diazepam in older adults.

Objectives: To determine whether zolpidem is a safer alternative to benzodiazepines.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Community based.