Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf
April 2024
Background: Accurately identifying alopecia in claims data is important to study this rare medication side effect.
Objectives: To develop and validate a claims-based algorithm to identify alopecia in women of childbearing age.
Methods: We linked electronic health records from a large healthcare system in Massachusetts (Mass General Brigham) with Medicaid claims data from 2016 through 2018 to identify all women aged 18 to 50 years with an ICD-10 code for alopecia, including alopecia areata, androgenic alopecia, non-scarring alopecia, or cicatricial alopecia, from a visit to the MGB system.
Background: High daily doses of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) were historically associated with risk of fibrosing colonopathy (FC) in people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF), leading to development of PERT dosing guidelines and reformulated products. This study quantified incidence of FC in pwCF treated with PERT following those measures.
Methods: This large prospective cohort study included eligible pwCF enrolled in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Patient Registry with ≥1 clinic visit in 2012-2014 and follow-up through 2020.
Introduction And Objective: Validation studies of algorithms for pregnancy outcomes based on International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) codes are important for conducting drug safety research using administrative claims databases. To facilitate the conduct of pregnancy safety studies, this exploratory study aimed to develop and validate ICD-10-CM-based claims algorithms for date of last menstrual period (LMP) and pregnancy outcomes using medical records.
Methods: Using a mother-infant-linked claims database, the study included women with a pregnancy between 2016-2017 and their infants.
Published studies report inconsistent associations of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) risk. We conducted a nested case-control study in Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study participants to evaluate a hypothesis of inverse association of pre-diagnosis red blood cell (RBC) membrane PUFA levels with risk of NHL endpoints. We confirmed 583 NHL cases and matched 583 controls by cohort/sex, age, race and blood draw date/time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: Elagolix, a gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor antagonist, was recently approved for heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids (UF, Oriahnn) at a dose of 300 mg twice daily (BID) in combination with add-back therapy (oestradiol 1 mg/norethindrone acetate 0.5 mg [E2/NETA] once daily) for 24 months use. The limited duration of treatment is related to elagolix dose- and duration-dependent decrease in oestrogen that is mechanistically linked to changes in bone mineral density (BMD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To examine women's perceptions of endometriosis-associated disease burden and its impact on life decisions and goal attainment.
Design: An anonymous online survey was distributed in October 2018 through the social media network MyEndometriosisTeam.com.
J Epidemiol Community Health
January 2022
Background: Depression and anxiety are prevalent among women with uterine fibroids (UF). The rate of mental health diagnoses in women with UF has not been studied.
Methods: Women aged 18-50 years with diagnosed UF were identified in the Optum Clinformatics commercial insurance claims database (OptumInsight, Eden Prairie, Minnesota) from 1 May 2000 to 31 March 2020 (n=313 754) and were matched 1:2 on age and calendar time to women without (n=627 539).
Background: The prevalence of adenomyosis is underestimated due to lack of a specific diagnostic code and diagnostic delays given most diagnoses occur at hysterectomy.
Objectives: To identify women with adenomyosis using indicators derived from natural language processing (NLP) of clinical notes in the Optum Electronic Health Record database (2014-2018), and to estimate the prevalence of potentially undiagnosed adenomyosis.
Methods: An NLP algorithm identified mentions of adenomyosis in clinical notes that were highly likely to represent a diagnosis.
Decline of bone mineral density (BMD) during menopause is related to increased risk of fractures in postmenopausal women, however, this relationship in premenopausal women has not been established. To quantify this relationship, real-world data (RWD) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), and longitudinal data from the elagolix phase III clinical trials were modeled across a wide age range, and covariates were evaluated. The natural changes in femoral neck BMD (FN-BMD) were well-described by a bi-exponential relationship with first-order BMD formation (k ) and resorption (k ) rate constants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Women with endometriosis are prescribed opioids for pain relief but may be vulnerable to chronic opioid use given their comorbidity profile.
Methods: A cohort study was conducted in the Clinformatics™ DataMart database between 2006 and 2017 comparing women aged 18-50 years with endometriosis (N = 36 373) to those without (N = 2 172 936) in terms of risk of chronic opioid use, opioid dependence diagnosis, and opioid overdose. Chronic opioid use was defined as ≥120 days' supply dispensed or ≥10 fills of an opioid during any 365-day interval.
Endometriosis may exert a profound negative influence on the lives of individuals with the disorder, adversely affecting quality of life, participation in daily and social activities, physical and sexual functioning, relationships, educational and work productivity, mental health, and well-being. Over the course of a lifetime, these daily challenges may translate into limitations in achieving life goals such as pursuing or completing educational opportunities; making career choices or advancing in a chosen career; forming stable, fulfilling relationships; or starting a family, all of which ultimately alter one's life trajectory. The potential for endometriosis to impact the life course is considerable, as symptom onset generally occurs at a time of life (menarche through menopause, adolescence through middle age) when multiple life-changing and trajectory-defining decisions are made.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Diet-tracking mobile apps have gained increased interest from both academic and clinical fields. However, quantity-focused diet tracking (eg, calorie counting) can be time-consuming and tedious, leading to unsustained adoption. Diet quality-focusing on high-quality dietary patterns rather than quantifying diet into calories-has shown effectiveness in improving heart disease risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElagolix, a gonadotrophin-releasing hormone antagonist, is used in premenopausal women with endometriosis. There is a risk of bone loss with elagolix, but the long-term effects of BMD loss later in life cannot be directly assessed and has not been quantified. To address this gap in knowledge, this study indirectly estimated the impact of elagolix on postmenopausal fracture risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe purpose of this study was to compare the incidence of mental health outcomes in women in the United States with and without documented endometriosis. In a retrospective matched-cohort study using administrative health claims data from Optum's Clinformatics DataMart from May 1, 2000, through March 31, 2019, women aged 18-50 years with endometriosis (n = 72,677), identified by International Classification of Disease diagnosis codes (revisions 9 or 10), were matched 1:2 on age and calendar time to women without endometriosis (n = 147,251), with a median follow-up of 529 days (interquartile range, 195, 1,164). The rate per 1,000 person-years of anxiety, depression, and self-directed violence among women with endometriosis was 57.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Trans fatty acid (TFA) intake persists in much of the world, posing ongoing threats to public health that warrant further elucidation. Published evidence suggests a positive association of self-reported TFA intake with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) risk.
Objectives: To confirm those reports, we conducted a prospective study of prediagnosis RBC membrane TFA levels and risk of NHL and common NHL histologic subtypes.
Background Supplementation with omega-3 (n-3) fatty acid or dietary fish may protect against atherosclerosis, but the potential mechanisms are unclear. Prior studies found modest triglyceride-lowering effects and slight increases in LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol. Limited evidence has examined n-3 effects on more detailed lipoprotein biomarkers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground The previously validated Healthy Heart Score effectively predicted the 20-year risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). We examine whether the Healthy Heart Score may extend to an association with total and cause-specific mortality. Methods and results The prospective cohort study investigated 58 319 women (mean age 50.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Adverse effects of medications taken during pregnancy are traditionally studied through post-marketing pregnancy registries, which have limitations. Social media data may be an alternative data source for pregnancy surveillance studies.
Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the feasibility of using social media data as an alternative source for pregnancy surveillance for regulatory decision making.
Since the 2002 American Heart Association scientific statement "Fish Consumption, Fish Oil, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, and Cardiovascular Disease," evidence from observational and experimental studies and from randomized controlled trials continues to emerge to further substantiate the beneficial effects of seafood long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and cardiovascular disease. A recent American Heart Association science advisory addressed the specific effect of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation on clinical cardiovascular events. This American Heart Association science advisory extends that review and offers further support to include n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids from seafood consumption.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCirculating saturated (SFA) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), which are predominantly derived from endogenous metabolism, may influence non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) risk by modulating inflammation or lymphocyte membrane stability. However, few biomarker studies have evaluated NHL risk associated with these fats. We conducted a prospective study of 583 incident NHL cases and 583 individually matched controls with archived pre-diagnosis red blood cell (RBC) specimens in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Cross-sectional and case-control studies generally support a direct association between elevated plasma homocysteine and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), but data from prospective studies are limited. We examined the prospective relation of plasma homocysteine level, its dietary determinants, and risk of AMD in a large cohort of apparently healthy male physicians.
Methods: During a mean follow-up of 11.