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ESPPharmacoEpidemiology Group
About the PharmacoEpidemiology Group (PEG)
Appropriate use of drugs is a central aspect of health care. The research program at the PharmacoEpidemiology Group (PEG) provides a setting for a wide range of activities related to the use and outcomes of prescription drugs. PEG uses epidemiological methods to analyze linked administrative data in British Columbia from PharmaNet, Medical Service Plan, and hospitals to answer important questions unaddressed in clinical trials. Our work includes evaluation of policies and educational interventions, monitoring of drug utilization, innovations in research methodology, and analysis of prescription drug safety and effectiveness.
Journal Publications | Reports
Research Projects
Our recent work includes undertaking or partnering in the following projects:
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Adherence to statins and healthy-user bias. PEG has been involved in research providing evidence of a healthy-user bias among statin users, which may bias observational studies of this drug class. Patients adhering to statins were found to experience fewer motor vehicle accidents, seek more health screening tests and experience fewer adverse health outcomes – whether or not these health outcomes were likely to be associated with statin use. Abstract | PDF |
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Alzheimer’s Drug Therapy Initiative (ADTI). This initiative provides coverage of cholinesterase inhibitors to eligible patients in British Columbia and aims to improve evidence on drug effectiveness, safety and costs. PEG researchers are conducting an independent evaluation of the impact of the initiative on health services utilization and costs. More information |
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Attention deficit and hyperactvity disorder (ADHD). The cardiovascular safety of medications for ADHD has become a concern in recent years and has been the subject of a Health Canada public advisory A PEG study is investigating the potential association between use of ADHD medications and incidence of serious cardiovascular events including myocardial infarction, stroke and heart failure. |
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Canadian Drug Safety and Effectiveness Network (CDSERN). This project brings together research centres in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec and includes PEG as an active partner. The network was founded to allow more effective and rapid study of prescription drug safety, effectiveness and policy in Canada. Preliminary research has included an evaluation of the impact of BC PharmaNet on inappropriate dispensing of narcotic drugs such as Oxycontin (in manuscript). |
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Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies (cNODES). This network consists of 60 researchers at universities in seven provinces who are collaborating to rapidly assess drug safety and effectiveness using postmarket data from existing databases. The network’s first study was initiated at PEG and will focus on the potential association between use of high-dose statin medications and acute kidney injury. |
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Cost-sharing in public drug coverage. During the past decade, the BC PharmaCare program introduced income-based deductibles and coinsurance as part of coverage under the provincial drug plan. PEG has been involved in numerous studies of the impact of changes to cost-sharing on health services utilization, costs and health outcomes. |
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Education for Quality Improvement in Patient Care (EQIP). The EQIP program provides physicians in British Columbia with individualized portraits of their own prescribing and with information on best prescribing practices. We are evaluating the impact of these educational interventions on drug utilization, costs and health outcomes. More information |
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Inhaled anti-cholinergic medications. Ipratropium and tiotropium are inhaled anti-cholinergic drugs for treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). PEG is conducting research into trends in utilization and costs related to reimbursement policies for these medications and into the association between these medications and hospital admissions. |
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Statin-splitting in British Columbia. This study of statin-splitting found that while less than 5% of statin users split their pills, statin-splitting saved $2.3 million in the period of one year. In the same year, BritishColumbians spent $145.3 million on cholesterol-lowering statin medications. The potential for cost savings is due to the ‘flat pricing’ of statins, where higher dosed drugs cost about the same as lower doses. Full text | PDF |
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Thiazoladinediones (TZDs). Our research on rosiglitazone and pioglitazone, in the thiazolidinedione class of drugs for type-2 diabetes, includes a cohort study of TZDs and fractures in men and women, a case-control study of TZDs and risk of myocardial infarction, and a study of the impact of a rosiglitazone meta-analysis on the use of glucose-lowering medications. |
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TNF inhibitors. PEG is conducting research into the safety and effectiveness of TNF inhibitors, which are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease. The health outcomes under study include patients’ function assessment (HACK) scores, swollen joint counts, hospitalization for rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn’s disease, myocardial infarction, stroke and all-cause mortality. |
Membership of the PharmacoEpidemiology Group
Dr. Colin Dormuth, M.Sc., Sc.D.
Assistant Professor, Dept of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, UBC
Chair, PharmacoEpidemiology Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative
Colin Dormuth has 15 years of experience using administrative health care databases to evaluate pharmaceutical policy changes and physician prescribing behaviour. He has been a member of the Therapeutics Initiative since 1995. His research focuses on drug safety and effectiveness, as well as the design and evaluation of reimbursement policies for prescription drugs. He has training in economic theory, applied econometrics, epidemiology, health services outcome research and biostatistics. Dr. Dormuth holds a Sc.D. and S.M. in epidemiology from Harvard University, an M.A. in economics from the University of Victoria, and a B.A. in economics from the University of Manitoba.
No conflict of interest declared | See TI conflict of interest policy
Dr. Ken Bassett, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Departments of Family Practice and Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, UBC
Faculty Member, Centre for Health Services & Policy Research, UBC
Associate Member, Departments of Ophthalmology, UBC and Health Care and Epidemiology, UBC
Chair, Drug Assessment Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative
Ken Bassett conducts systematic reviews of the efficacy and safety of new and established drugs, as well as pharmaco-epidemiologic studies of serious adverse events associated with prescription drug therapy in British Columbia. His ongoing research interests are in the systematic review of drug therapy and drug funding policy.
No conflict of interest declared | See TI conflict of interest policy
Dr. M. Alan Brookhart, Ph.D.
Biostatistician, PharmacoEpidemiology Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative
Alan Brookhart is an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina in theDepartment of Epidemiology - UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. His research focuses on the development and application of statistical methods for drug utilization and outcomes research using large, health care claims data files. Areas of particular interest include the use of instrumental variable methods to assess short-term drug exposure effects, model selection strategies for efficient control of confounding, and multilevel analysis of prescription drug use data. He is also involved with the design and analysis of several cluster randomized trials. Dr. Brookhart received his PhD in Biostatistics from the University of California at Berkeley.
Conflict of Interest: Dr. Brookhart has received grant-funded support from Amgen for conducting research but no personal compensation or honoraria.
See TI conflict of interest policy
Greg Carney, B.Sc.
Research Program Manager, Dept of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, UBC
Greg Carney holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Victoria in applied economics. He has a unique skill set which combines business analysis, economics, statistical programming, and epidemiology. Since 1999 he has worked as an economist, business analyst, health researcher, statistician, and epidemiologist. His research focuses on post market pharmaceutical surveillance and pharmaceutical outcomes using large health care utilization databases.
No conflict of interest declared | See TI conflict of interest policy
Dr. Anat Fisher, M.D., M.H.A.
PhD Candidate, Dept of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, UBC
Research Associate, PharmacoEpidemiology Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative
Anat Fisher obtained her M.D. degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. She also has a Master of Health Administration from the Tel Aviv University in Israel. She worked as a family practitioner for many years and managed a Hospital Department in a Managed Health Organization. She is an experienced researcher and an expert in data analysis and trend analysis. She has conducted several systematic reviews on safety and efficacy of new drug therapies and is an author of Cochrane systematic reviews.
No conflict of interest declared | See TI conflict of interest policy
Dr. Scott Garrison, M.D.
BCMA Board Representative on the SIEC, Therapeutics Initiative
General Practice, Vancouver, BC
Scott Garrison has degrees in engineering physics and medicine, and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia in the department of experimental medicine. He has worked in Richmond, BC as a full-time office and hospital-based family physician since 1992 and has been a member of GPAC working groups producing the current BC provincial guidelines for the management of hypertension, stroke and cardiovascular risk reduction. He sits on the Primary Care Advisory Council for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and is the President of the Medical Staff for Richmond Hospital. He is also a clinical assistant professor with the UBC Dept of Family Practice and the principle investigator of a clinical trial exploring the role of magnesium in muscle cramping.
No conflict of interest declared | See TI conflict of interest policy
Yuko Kawasumi, Ph.D.
Epidemiologist, PharmacoEpidemiology Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative
Yuko has recently joined the PharmacoEpidemiology Working Group as an Epidemiologist. Her primary research interest and training is to investigate the quality of prescription medication use, using the linked health administrative claims databases. She has conducted the investigation in relationship with pharmaceutical policy changes, physician prescribing behaviour, and health system characteristics. Her recent research focus is drug safety and post-market pharmaceutical surveillance.Yuko holds a PhD in Epidemiology from Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and occupational health at McGill University.
Tarita Miller, B.Sc.
Research Analyst, PharmacoEpidemiology Group, Therapeutics Initiative
Tarita holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Information Science from the University of Victoria. She has recently joined the PharmacoEpidemiology Group, with previous experience as a research officer and data analyst in pharmaceutical policy and outcomes evaluation.
Dr. Barbara Mintzes, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Dept of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, UBC
Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar
Barbara Mintzes holds a BA in geography from Simon Fraser University and a PhD in health care and epidemiology from the University of British Columbia. She carries out evaluations of drug safety and effectiveness that provide background information for provincial drug financing decisions. She also works as a clinical reviewer with the Common Drug Review.
The focus of her research is pharmaceutical policy, and her main area of expertise is on the effects of direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs on prescribing and medicine use. She is also involved in research on the influence of regulatory standards for drug promotion on the quality of information provided. She coordinates a global research project on rational use of medicines with Health Action International, a network of consumer, health and development organizations representing public interests in pharmaceutical policy, and is involved in a collaborative World Health Organization project to develop curriculum for pharmacy and medical students on drug promotion and interactions with the industry. She also works with the Pharmaceutical Policy Unit at UBC’s Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, and is a member of the Steering Group of Women and Health Protection.
No conflict of interest declared | See TI conflict of interest policy
Richard Morrow, M.A.
Health Research Analyst, PharmacoEpidemiology Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative
Richard Morrow holds an MA in Economics from the University of Victoria and a BA in English Literature from McGill University. His expertise includes policy analysis, communications, health economics, statistical methods and programming. Since 2004, he has worked as a research analyst in the areas of pharmaceutical policy and post-market drug safety and effectiveness.
No conflict of interest declared | See TI conflict of interest policy
Dr. James M. Wright, M.D., Ph.D., FRCP(C)
Managing Director and Chair, Therapeutics Initiative
Professor, Departments of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics and Medicine, UBC
Clinical Pharmacologist, Vancouver Hospital
James (Jim) Wright is a Professor in the Departments of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics and Medicine at the University of BC, Vancouver, Canada. He obtained his MD from the University of Alberta in 1968, his FRCP(C) in Internal Medicine in 1975 and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from McGill University in 1976. He is a practicing specialist in Internal Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology. He is also Managing Director of the Therapeutics Initiative, Editor-in-Chief of the Therapeutics Letter and Coordinating Editor of the Cochrane Hypertension Review Group. He sits on the Editorial Boards of the following journals: Open Medicine, PLoS One and the Cochrane Library. Dr. Wright's research focuses on issues related to appropriate use of prescription drugs, Clinical Pharmacology, clinical trials, systematic review, meta-analysis and knowledge translation.
No conflict of interest declared | See TI conflict of interest policy
