Clinical pharmacists must often interpret and use data derived from observational studies when making clinical decisions and recommendations, answering drug information questions, and educating patients about drug therapy. This is the third article in a three-part series intended to enhance clinical pharmacists' understanding of methods frequently used in such research and their application to patient care. Principles for critical evaluation of published observational studies are presented. Issues of bias and confounding that must be taken into account when assessing the data derived from observational studies are explained. Finally, examples of applications in pharmacy practice are presented.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1592/phco.31.2.115 | DOI Listing |
BMC Public Health
January 2025
Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Nutrition and Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, PO Box 81745-151, Isfahan, Iran.
Background: Prevalence of metabolic disorders has been increased in recent years around the world. The relationship between Mediterranean diet (MD) with metabolic health status and serum adropin levels has been less examined in Iranian adults. We investigated the association between MD compliance with metabolic health status and adropin hormone in Iranian adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Med Res Methodol
January 2025
Freiburg Center for Data Analysis, Modeling and AI, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Background: The integration of real-world evidence (RWE) from real-world data (RWD) in clinical research is crucial for bridging the gap between clinical trial results and real-world outcomes. Analyzing routinely collected data to generate clinical evidence faces methodological concerns like confounding and bias, similar to prospectively documented observational studies. This study focuses on additional limitations frequently reported in the literature, providing an overview of the challenges and biases inherent to analyzing routine clinical care data, including health claims data (hereafter: routine data).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Infect Dis
January 2025
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Background: C-reactive protein (CRP) is one of the most commonly monitored inflammatory markers in patients with COVID-19 to gain insight into the inflammation level in the body and to adopt effective disease management and therapeutic strategies. COVID-19 is now less prevalent, and the study of CRP as a biomarker of inflammation still needs deeper understanding, particularly in understanding its role among patients with comorbidities, which are known to influence inflammatory responses and increase the risk of severe outcomes during acute and chronic infectious diseases. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of major comorbidities such as ischemic heart diseases, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, hypertension, and lung infections e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
January 2025
Hainan Women and Children's Medical Center, Haikou, 571199, Hainan, China.
This observational investigation aimed to explore potential risk factors for anemia in pregnancy. Firstly, a cross-sectional study was conducted, encompassing a review of clinical data of 43,201 pregnant women admitted to the Hainan Women and Children's Medical Center between January 2017 and December 2020. Comparison between women with and without anemia in pregnancy revealed significant differences between the two groups concerning age, gestational diabetes, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, chronic hepatitis B virus infection, syphilis infection, and human immunodeficiency virus infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Heart Fail
January 2025
Department of Cardiology, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Hospital 12 de Octubre (imas12), Madrid, Spain.
Aims: Differentiation between patients with Takotsubo syndrome and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) remains a challenge. We performed a systematic review to identify and evaluate diagnostic predictive models to distinguish both conditions.
Methods And Results: We performed an electronic search in PubMed, EMBASE, and Scopus until January 2024.
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