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Comparison of Three Different Methods for Determining Cell Proliferation in Breast Cancer Cell Lines
Published on: September 3, 2016
Comparison of Pharmacy Database Methods for Determining Prevalent Chronic Medication Use.
Timothy S Anderson1,2, Bocheng Jing3,4, Charlie M Wray5
1Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA.
Accurate identification of prevalent medication use is crucial for research. Algorithms balancing medication fill recency with grace periods, like a 180-day look-back, offer superior performance over simpler methods.
Area of Science:
- Health Services Research
- Observational Research
- Pharmacoepidemiology
Background:
- Pharmacy dispensing data are vital for identifying prevalent medication use in observational studies.
- Existing methods for this identification lack comparative performance data.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the performance of various algorithms for identifying prevalent outpatient medication use.
Main Methods:
- Compared outpatient pharmacy fill data against medication reconciliation notes for 207 patients.
- Evaluated 12 pharmacy database algorithms for 11 medication classes using reconciliation notes as the criterion standard.
Main Results:
- A 180-day fixed look-back algorithm showed 93% sensitivity and 97% specificity.
- A medication-on-hand approach with a 60-day grace period yielded 91% sensitivity and 97% specificity.
- Commonly used algorithms (e.g., 1-year or 30-day fills) performed less effectively, especially for patients with recent facility care.
Conclusions:
- Pharmacy algorithms balancing medication fill recency and grace periods outperform simpler methods.
- These advanced algorithms should be considered for future studies on prevalent chronic medication use.
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