The trends and determinants of seasonal influenza vaccination after cardiovascular events in Canada: a repeated, pan-Canadian, cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Annual influenza vaccination is recommended for individuals with a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. We aimed to examine (1) the time trends for influenza vaccination among Canadians with a CVD event history between 2009 and 2018, and (2) the determinants of receiving the vaccination in this population over the same period.

Methods: We used data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS).

Cost Effectiveness of Implementing a Universal Birth Hepatitis B Vaccination Program in Ontario.

Background And Objective: The World Health Organization recommends a universal hepatitis B vaccination within the first 24 h of birth. However, hepatitis B vaccines are given during adolescence in many jurisdictions including in Ontario, Canada. The objective of this study was to assess the cost effectiveness of shifting the hepatitis B vaccination timing from adolescence to birth.

Trends in Blood Glucose Test Strip Utilization: A Population-Wide Analysis in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Objectives: To describe trends in blood glucose test strip (TS) utilization and cost in Saskatchewan.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of TS use between January 1, 1996, and December 31, 2013, was conducted using population-based health administrative databases in Saskatchewan. The prescription drug database was used to describe the annual number of TS dispensations, the number of strips dispensed, the number of unique beneficiaries and the total costs.

Protecting our patients by protecting ourselves: An analysis of the personal influenza immunization rate of Ontario community pharmacists.

Background: With recent expansions to scope of practice that have allowed Canadian pharmacists to play a larger role in administering influenza vaccinations to the public, it is important that pharmacists themselves meet Canadian guidelines recommending that 80% of health care professionals and 100% of vaccinators receive an annual influenza vaccination. Unvaccinated health care professionals pose an infection risk to patients they serve and are at an increased risk of infection themselves.

Methods: An online, anonymous survey was sent to Ontario community pharmacists to determine whether they had received the influenza vaccination during the 2013-2014 influenza season.

Proportion and risk indicators of nonadherence to antihypertensive therapy: a meta-analysis.

Purpose: The World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that poor adherence to treatment is the most important cause of uncontrolled high blood pressure, with approximately 75% of patients not achieving optimum blood pressure control. The WHO estimates that between 20% and 80% of patients receiving treatment for hypertension are adherent. As such, the first objective of our study was to quantify the proportion of nonadherence to antihypertensive therapy in real-world observational study settings.

Use and misuse of ezetimibe: analysis of use and cost in Saskatchewan, a Canadian jurisdiction with broad access.

Background: Saskatchewan is the only Canadian province that lists ezetimibe for open formulary access even though it is a second-line agent for lowering cholesterol.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of ezetimibe use in Saskatchewan between 2002 and 2011 was carried out using provincial health administrative databases. Overall use and costs of ezetimibe were described over time.

Neighbourhood income and cardiac rehabilitation access as determinants of nonattendance and noncompletion.

Background: Despite known benefits of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR), attendance and completion rates remain low. Our objective was to review attendance and completion of CR overall and by level of neighbourhood income in Saskatoon, Canada and then determine the effect of opening a new CR facility in close proximity to low-income neighbourhoods.

Methods: From January 2007 to December 2011, our retrospective cohort included hospital discharge data, CR attendance, and completion rates, stratified according to neighbourhood income, and adjusted for sex and age.

Pharmacist intervention in cardiac rehabilitation: a randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: We aimed to determine to what extent a telephone-based pharmacist intervention would (a) be utilized by individuals not attending a traditional cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program and (b) facilitate adherence to cardiovascular medications.

Methods: We conducted a randomized, controlled open-label trial among patients eligible for CR in Saskatoon, Canada. Patients were invited to participate in telephone-based CR, regardless of participation in the formal program.