FundaÃÃo Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Cientifico e TecnolÃgico / INTRODUÃÃO: ReaÃÃes adversas a medicamentos - RAM constituem causa de morbi-mortalidade em pacientes hospitalizados, pÃem em risco a vida do paciente e representam aumento no tempo de internaÃÃo e nos custos hospitalares. OBJETIVOS: Determinar a incidÃncia de reaÃÃes adversas a medicamentos no Hospital UniversitÃrio Walter CantÃdio - HUWC, investigar quais os fatores que podem estar associados a esses eventos e propÃr medidas de prevenÃÃo ou reduÃÃo do impacto negativo dessas reaÃÃes. MÃTODOS: Estudo observacional, analÃtico, prospectivo, com monitorizaÃÃo intensiva de pacientes, determinaÃÃo da incidÃncia acumulada de RAM e avaliaÃÃo exploratÃria de seus determinantes. Eram incluÃdos no estudo, todos os pacientes internados nas clÃnicas mÃdicas do HUWC, de 01 de setembro de 2000 a 28 de fevereiro de 2001, os quais foram acompanhados desde o momento da internaÃÃo atà a alta hospitalar ou Ãbito, para a detecÃÃo e acompanhamento de reaÃÃes adversas. Foram realizadas visitas diÃrias Ãs clÃnicas mÃdicas do HUWC, registrando os medicamentos utilizados e investigaÃÃo sobre a ocorrÃncia de RAM. Os casos em que os pacientes apresentavam RAM eram avaliados seguindo a metodologia recomendada pela OrganizaÃÃo Mundial de SaÃde. As reaÃÃes eram classificadas conforme imputabilidade, gravidade e tipo. Os medicamentos foram classificados de acordo com o Anatomical-Therapeutical-Chemical â ATC, Classification Index e as reaÃÃes adversas atravÃs do WHO-ART tambÃm recomendado pela OrganizaÃÃo Mundial da SaÃde. RESULTADOS: Foram internados nas clÃnicas mÃdicas do HUWC um total de 970 pacientes destes, 54% eram mulheres e 46% homens, com idade variando de 9 meses a 97 anos. Todos os pacientes fizeram uso de medicamentos durante a internaÃÃo, variando de 1 a 20 medicamentos/paciente. Os grupos de medicamentos mais utilizados, (1 nÃvel ATC) foram medicamentos que atuam no sistema nervoso central (19,0%), medicamentos que atuam sobre o trato alimentar e metabolismo (17,0%), medicamentos que atuam no sistema cardiovascular (16,7%). Do total, oito (0,8%) tiveram como diagnÃstico de internaÃÃo alguma reaÃÃo adversa a medicamento. Durante o perÃodo do estudo foram verificadas 30 novas ocorrÃncias de RAM em pacientes hospitalizados. As manifestaÃÃes das reaÃÃes adversas compreendiam principalmente afecÃÃes da pele (65,0%) e distÃrbios do estado geral (25,0%). Quanto à gravidade, as reaÃÃes foram na sua maioria classificadas como moderadas (79,0%), seguidas das reaÃÃes leves (19,0%). A relaÃÃo de causalidade foi considerada provÃvel em 58,0% dos casos e definida em 24,5%. Os grupos farmacolÃgicos mais envolvidos foram antibiÃticos de uso sistÃmico (66,4%), seguido por medicamentos que atuam no sistema nervoso (7,7%), antineoplÃsicos e agentes imunomoduladores (7,7%). A incidÃncia de RAM entre os pacientes hospitalizados nÃo està associada ao sexo nem à idade. O nÃmero de dias de internaÃÃo interferiu na ocorrÃncia de RAM. CONCLUSÃO: Foram identificadas ocorrÃncias de reaÃÃes adversas como causa de internaÃÃo e durante a internaÃÃo hospitalar. Todos os pacientes admitidos com RAM apresentaram manifestaÃÃes dermatolÃgicas. Os antibiÃticos, principalmente a cefalotina, foram os medicamentos mais envolvidos com a ocorrÃncia de RAM em pacientes internados. / INTRODUCTION: Adverse drug reactions (ADR) constitute cause of morbidity in hospitalized patients, represent a risk for patients and an increase in the period patients stay in hospitals and the costs. OBJECTIVES: To determine the incidence of adverse drug reactions in the Walter CantÃdio University Hospital (WCUH), investigate what factors may be associated with these events and propose measures to prevent or reduce the negative impact of those reactions. METHODS: An observational, analytical, and prospective study, with intensive monitoring of patients, analysis of the cumulative incidence of ADR and an exploratory evaluation of its determinants. The study included all inpatients in the medical clinics of WCUH from September 1st, 2000 to February 28th 2001, which were assisted from admission until discharge or death, to detection and monitoring of adverse reaction. Daily calls were made to the clinics WCUH in order to register the use of drugs and the occurrence of ADR. Cases in which patients had ADRs were assessed according to the methodology proposed by the World Health Organization. The reactions were classified based on liability, severity and type. Drugs were classified according to the Anatomical-Therapeutical-Chemical (ATC), Classification Index and adverse reactions through the WHO-ART also recommended by the World Health Organization. RESULTS: 970 patients were admitted to the medical clinics of HUWC. Of those, 54% were women and 46% were men, ranging in age from 09 months to 97 years. All patients received medication during hospitalization, ranging from 1 to 20 drugs / patient. The most commonly used drug groups (1st level ATC) are drugs that act on central nervous system (19.0%), drugs that act on the digestive tract and metabolism (17.0%), and drugs that act on the cardiovascular system (16.7%). Of the total, in eight (8%) the diagnosis for admission was an adverse reaction to medication. During the study, 30 new cases of ADRs in inpatients were registered. The results of adverse reactions comprised mainly skin disorders (65.0%) and general disturbances (25.0%). About gravity, the reactions were mostly classified as moderate (79.0%), followed by mild reactions (19.0%). The relation of causality was considered probable in 58.0% of cases and set at 24.5%. Most involved pharmacological groups were antibiotics for systemic use (66.4%), followed by drugs that act on the nervous system (7.7%), antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents (7.7%). The incidence of ADR among inpatients is not associated with age or gender. The number of days of hospital admission interfered with the occurrence of RAM. CONCLUSION: Adverse reactions as cause of admission were identified. All inpatients with ADRs have skin manifestations. Antibiotics, especially cephalosporins, were drugs commonly involved with the occurrence of ADRs in inpatients.

nÃo hà / Em decorrÃncia de novos conhecimentos sobre seu mecanismo de aÃÃo e propriedades farmacolÃgicas, a talidomida tem sido utilizada por um nÃmero cada vez maior de profissionais, para condiÃÃes clÃnicas as mais diversas. Devido ao alto potencial teratogÃnico, seu uso seguro e racional requer um acompanhamento por rigoroso programa de FarmacovigilÃncia. Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o percurso terapÃutico da prescriÃÃo à utilizaÃÃo da talidomida em Ãrea urbana no Nordeste do Brasil. Foram utilizados dados dos arquivos de receitas de um Centro de Referencia para HansenÃase do MinistÃrio da SaÃde e informaÃÃes obtidas atravÃs da aplicaÃÃo de questionÃrios semi-estruturados a 94 usuÃrios e 20 mÃdicos prescritores de talidomida, no perÃodo de 1 de janeiro de 2005 a 31 de julho de 2006. A maioria dos usuÃrios (70%) era do sexo masculino, com idade entre 41 e 65 anos (40,7%) e a principal indicaÃÃo foi o Eritema Nodoso HansÃnico (70%), sendo 29,4% das receitas prescritas por dermatologistas. Entre as mulheres entrevistadas, mais da metade estava em idade fÃrtil, 85% utilizam mÃtodo contraceptivo, sendo a laqueadura tubÃria em 47%. O risco de teratogenicidade à alertado ao paciente por 85% dos prescritores. O medicamento foi considerado eficaz para 70,9% dos usuÃrios entrevistados e a sonolÃncia foi referida como efeito adverso para 80% deles. Conclui-se que a talidomida à utilizada principalmente para as indicaÃÃes oficiais do MinistÃrio da SaÃde, entretanto à evidente a ampliaÃÃo do seu uso clÃnico para numerosas condiÃÃes off label, com eficÃcia considerÃvel e efeitos adversos leves a moderados. Apesar dos prescritores preocuparem-se com a anticoncepÃÃo durante e apÃs o tratamento, quando a talidomida à utilizada em mulheres com risco de gravidez; as determinaÃÃes da ANVISA quanto à prescriÃÃo e ao uso da talidomida nÃo vÃm sendo adequadamente seguidas, observando-se que os usuÃrios sÃo pouco informados quanto aos efeitos adversos do medicamento, tornando premente a necessidade da regulamentaÃÃo da Lei 10.651, dentro da nova realidade de utilizaÃÃo da talidomida, tornando seu uso clÃnico racional e controlado. / In result of new knowledge on its mechanism of action and pharmacological properties, thalidomide has been used for a number each bigger of professionals, for most diverse clinical conditions. Because of its high teratogenical potential, its safe and rational use requires an accompaniment for rigorous program of pharmacovigilance. The objective of this study was to evaluate the therapeutical prescription and the use of thalidomide in north-eastern urban area of Brazil. The data were gotten from the prescription archives of a Center of Reference for Leprosy of the Health Department and information gotten through the application of half-structuralized questionnaires the 94 users and 20 medical prescritores of thalidomide, during the period of January 2005 to July 2006. The majority of the users (70%) were men, with age between 41 and 65 years (40.7%), the main indication was the Erythema Nodosum Leprosum (70%), and 29.4% of prescriptions were prescribed for dermatologists. Between the interviewed women, more than the half were in fertile age, 85% use contraceptive method, it being the tubal ligation in 47%. Teratogenicity risk is alerted to the patient by 85% of the prescritores. The medicine was considered efficient for 70.9% of the interviewed users and the sleepiness was related as adverse effect for 80% of them. It is concluded that thalidomide is used mainly for the official indications of the Health Department, however is evident the magnifying of its clinical use for numerous conditions off label, with considerable effectiveness and light or moderate adverse effects. Although the prescritores were worried about the contraception during the treatment, when thalidomide is used in women with pregnancy risk; the determination of the ANVISA about prescription and use of thalidomide has not being adequately followed, observing that the users are inadequately informed about the adverse effect of the medicine. Itâs urgent the necessity of the regulation of Law 10,651, inside of the new reality of use of thalidomide, in order to its rational and controlled clinical use.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Healthcare professionals (HCPs) have a primary role to play in the detection, assessment and spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). An improvement of their related knowledge, attitude and practice concerning pharmacovigilance and ADR reporting is vital. The objective of the study was to determine whether or not pharmacovigilance training, provided by a Pharmaceutical Company, would improve HCP’s perceptions and adherence to pharmacovigilance and ADR reporting. A quasi-experimental research design was used. A total of 44 HCPs participated in the study. Participants were divided into two groups: an experimental group that received pharmaceutical training intervention; and a control group that did not receive any training. Using a self-administered questionnaire before and after the training intervention assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of pharmacovigilance and ADR reporting displayed amongst the HCPs.

No description available.

Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 8 novembre 2023) / Contexte : Les cascades médicamenteuses surviennent lorsqu'un effet indésirable médicamenteux, causé par un médicament index, est considéré à tort comme étant une nouvelle affection, ce qui conduit à la prescription d'un autre médicament pour la traiter. Cette pratique favorise la polypharmacie, la survenue d'effets indésirables et l'accroissement du fardeau thérapeutique, surtout chez les sujets vulnérables comme les personnes âgées. Un cas répandu de cascade médicamenteuse est la co-prescription de diurétiques de l'anse pour traiter l'œdème périphérique causé par un bloqueur des canaux calciques (BCC). Objectifs : Les objectifs de cette étude étaient (i) d'estimer le risque de la cascade BCC-diurétique dans la population des personnes de 66 ans et plus utilisant ces deux médicaments et (ii) de déterminer les facteurs associés à cette cascade. Méthodes: Ce projet était une étude de cohorte longitudinale rétrospective des personnes âgées de 66 ans et plus couvertes par le régime public d'assurance-médicaments (RPAM). Les données ont été obtenues à partir de la base de données du Système intégré de surveillance des maladies chroniques du Québec (SISMACQ). Nous avons inclus les personnes qui ont reçu un BCC ou un diurétique de l'anse pour la première fois (date de référence) entre le 1er avril 2014 et le 31 mars 2020. La première réclamation de BCC ou de diurétique de l'anse devait être suivie d'une réclamation de l'autre médicament dans les 365 jours et les patients devaient être inscrits de manière continue au RPAM 365 jours avant et 365 jours après la date de référence. Une analyse de symétrie de la séquence (ASS) de prescription avec l'utilisation d'antagonistes des récepteurs de l'angiotensine (ARA) comme contrôle négatif a été utilisée pour déterminer l'incidence de la cascade BBC-diurétique. Une analyse de régression logistique multivariée a été réalisée pour identifier les facteurs associés à la cascade médicamenteuse. Résultats : Au total, 11 543 patients ont eu une première réclamation de BCC et de diurétiques, 7 906 patients ayant reçu le diurétique dans les 365 jours suivant la première réclamation du BCC et 3 637 patients ayant reçu le diurétique avant le BCC. Le rapport de séquence brut (RSb) pour l'ASS du BCC était de 2,17, indiquant une probabilité plus élevée de recevoir un BCC avant le diurétique. Après ajustement pour le rapport de tendance temporelle (RTT), on a obtenu un ratio de séquence ajusté (RSa) de 2,21 (IC95% 2,13-2,30). En incorporant le RSa du contrôle négatif à l'ASS principal, on a obtenu un RSa relatif (RSar) de 1,82 (IC95% 1,70-2,09). Les graphiques du SSA ont montré que la cascade tend à se produire dans les premiers mois suivant la réclamation de BCC. L'analyse de régression logistique a révélé que le sexe masculin, la tranche d'âge jeune (66-69 ans), ainsi que des caractéristiques spécifiques du prescripteur telles que l'année d'obtention du diplôme et la spécialité sont des facteurs prédictifs des cascades médicamenteuses. L'analyse a également montré que les patients ayant eu recours à des prescripteurs différents présentaient un risque accru d'avoir la séquence BCC-diurétiques. Conclusions : Les patients de 66 ans et plus qui ont d'abord eu une réclamation de BCC encouraient 82 % de risque de recevoir par la suite une prescription de diurétique, possiblement en raison de l'apparition d'un œdème comme effet secondaire des BCC. Peu de caractéristiques étaient prédictives de la cascade médicamenteuse BCC-diurétiques. Les patients les plus jeunes et ceux de sexe masculin étaient plus susceptibles de subir cette cascade. Certaines caractéristiques du prescripteur, telles qu'une année de diplomation peu récente et être un médecin généraliste, étaient associées à cette cascade. Ces résultats soulignent l'importance d'une surveillance attentive pour optimiser le traitement médicamenteux, en particulier chez les patients les plus jeunes et de sexe masculin, et de sensibiliser les prescripteurs selon de leur expérience et formation lorsqu'ils évaluent les risques et les bénéfices des médicaments.

L’amélioration de la surveillance de la sécurité des médicaments grâce à l’utilisation des bases de données médico-administratives est source de nombreuses promesses. L’objectif de cette thèse était de développer un système automatisé de détection et de priorisation des signaux de sécurité adapté aux bases de données médico-administratives, pour la surveillance de la sécurité des médicaments des maladies chroniques. Les antidiabétiques non insuliniques (ANI) ont été sélectionnés comme cas d’étude pour le développement et l’évaluation de ce système. Nous avons d’abord étudié le profil d’utilisation des ANI en France, et avons retrouvé un fort mésusage des inhibiteurs de la dipeptidylpeptidase-4 (DPP-4) ainsi qu’un risque accru de non observance avec ces derniers. Nous avons ensuite réalisé deux revues de la littérature qui nous ont permis de sélectionner, pour la détection, la méthode sequence symmetry analysis, et de construire, pour la priorisation, notre algorithme que nous avons structuré autour de la force, la nouveauté, l’impact du signal de sécurité, et les modalités d’utilisation du médicament. Nous avons enfin évalué, d’une part, les performances du système développé, dans une étude pilote sur les ANI qui a montré des résultats satisfaisants et permis d’identifier un nouveau signal de sécurité entre les inhibiteurs de la DPP-4 et les événements thromboemboliques veineux, et d’autre part, son acceptabilité auprès des décideurs de santé qui l’ont jugé positivement. Ces résultats nous invitent à poursuivre nos recherches sur l’amélioration et la validation du système développé. / The improvement of the surveillance of the drug safety by using healthcare databases is waited with hope for a decade. The objective of this thesis was to develop an automated system combining detection and prioritization of safety signals from healthcare databases, for the surveillance of drugs used in chronic diseases. Noninsulin glucose-lowering drugs (NIGLDs) were selected as a case study for the development and the assessment of the system. Firstly, we studied the patterns of use of the NIGLDs in France, and we found a large misuse with the dipeptidylpeptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors and a higher risk of non-observance with their use. Secondly, we conducted two literature review, which allows us to select the sequence symmetry analysis for the detection and to develop our algorithm for the prioritization that we based on strength, novelty, impact of the safety signal, and patterns of drug use. Thirdly, we assessed the performance of the system, in a pilot study on NIGLDs that showed satisfying results and identified a new safety signal with the use of DPP-4 inhibitors and venous thromboembolic events, as well as its acceptability among stakeholders that judged it positively. These results invite us to pursue our researches to improve and to validate the developed system.

La pharmacovigilance est une discipline fondamentale pour la sécurité et la confiance dans le médicament. Cette discipline a évolué au fil du temps et s’est renforcée, mais souffre encore d’imperfection. Nous nous sommes proposés dans ce travail d’apporter une solution originale d’amélioration.Dans une première partie, nous décrivons et analysons l’évolution de la pharmacovigilance et son fonctionnement actuel tant du point de vue juridique que du point de vue scientifique, et ce, tant au niveau national qu’au niveau de l’Union Européenne. Nous avons analysé les insuffisances juridiques et pratiques puis avons fait des propositions pour les combler. Nous avons donc formulé un certain nombre de possibilités, avant de développer dans la deuxième partie une approche originale : la pédagogie. En partant du constat que la pharmacovigilance de terrain repose sur les professionnels de santé, nous avons étudié l’offre de formation de ces derniers et proposer d’apporter une formation universitaire plus qualitative et suffisamment quantitative, en pharmacovigilance et iatrogénie, le tout en s’appuyant sur des méthodes pédagogiques et des outils adaptés aux étudiants actuels. Le paradigme pédagogique proposé s’appuie sur une pédagogie d’explication, qui se base sur la recherche en droit pharmaceutique et sur une pédagogie innovante hybride, alliant cours en présentiel et ressources en e-learning. Les outils utilisés sont notamment des exposés magistraux complétés par des évaluations formatives sous forme de tests par boîtiers de vote électroniques et des cas cliniques en e-learning disponible sur une plateforme. Cette pédagogie doit mener les étudiants vers une meilleure compréhension de la pharmacovigilance et une pratique de la gestion des évènements iatrogènes médicamenteux. En conséquence le travail mené permet de mieux former les professionnels de santé à une gestion du risque médicamenteux avec un objectif final de confortation du système de pharmacovigilance. Ce dispositif sera complété dans le futur par de la simulation et de jeux de rôle. / Pharmacovigilance is a fundamental discipline for safety and confidence in the medicines. This discipline has evolved over time, and has been strengthened, but still suffers from imperfections. We proposed through this work to provide an original solution for its improvement.In the first part, we describe and analyze the evolution of pharmacovigilance and its current functioning from both the legal and the scientific point of view and at both national and European levels. We analyzed the legal and practical weaknesses and have formulated proposals to address them. Then we review a number of possibilities before developing in the second part an original approach: pedagogy. Having established that the field pharmacovigilance is based on health professionals, we studied the provision of training of these professionals and offering to provide more qualitative and enough quantitative academic training in pharmacovigilance and iatrogenic, keeping in mind that we must rely on teaching methods and tools that should be adapted to current students. The proposed pedagogical paradigm is based on a pedagogy of explanation, on research in pharmaceutical law and a hybrid innovative pedagogy, combining face to face courses and e-learning resources. The tools used include lectures supplemented by formative assessments as tests done with electronic voting boxes and clinical cases in e-learning available on a platform. This education should lead students to a better understanding of pharmacovigilance and practical management of iatrogenic drug events.Consequently, the work done, allows us to better train, health professionals for drug risk management with an ultimate goal of strengthening the pharmacovigilance system. This will be complemented in the future by simulation and role-playing.

Cette thèse regroupe des contributions méthodologiques à l'analyse statistique des bases de données de pharmacovigilance. Les difficultés de modélisation de ces données résident dans le fait qu'elles produisent des matrices souvent creuses et de grandes dimensions. La première partie des travaux de cette thèse porte sur la classification croisée du tableau de contingence de pharmacovigilance à l’aide du modèle des blocs latents de Poisson normalisé. L'objectif de la classification est d'une part de fournir aux pharmacologues des zones intéressantes plus réduites à explorer de manière plus précise, et d'autre part de constituer une information a priori utilisable lors de l'analyse des données individuelles de pharmacovigilance. Dans ce cadre, nous détaillons une procédure d'estimation partiellement bayésienne des paramètres du modèle et des critères de sélection de modèles afin de choisir le modèle le plus adapté aux données étudiées. Les données étant de grandes dimensions, nous proposons également une procédure pour explorer de manière non exhaustive mais pertinente, l'espace des modèles en coclustering. Enfin, pour mesurer la performance des algorithmes, nous développons un indice de classification croisée calculable en pratique pour un nombre de classes élevé. Les développements de ces outils statistiques ne sont pas spécifiques à la pharmacovigilance et peuvent être utile à toute analyse en classification croisée. La seconde partie des travaux de cette thèse porte sur l'analyse statistique des données individuelles, plus nombreuses mais également plus riches en information. L'objectif est d'établir des classes d'individus selon leur profil médicamenteux et des sous-groupes d'effets et de médicaments possiblement en interaction, palliant ainsi le phénomène de coprescription et de masquage que peuvent présenter les méthodes existantes sur le tableau de contingence. De plus, l'interaction entre plusieurs effets indésirables y est prise en compte. Nous proposons alors le modèle des blocs latents multiple qui fournit une classification croisée simultanée des lignes et des colonnes de deux tableaux de données binaires en leur imposant le même classement en ligne. Nous discutons des hypothèses inhérentes à ce nouveau modèle et nous énonçons des conditions suffisantes de son identifiabilité. Ensuite, nous présentons une procédure d'estimation de ses paramètres et développons des critères de sélection de modèles associés. De plus, un modèle de simulation numérique des données individuelles de pharmacovigilance est proposé et permet de confronter les méthodes entre elles et d'étudier leurs limites. Enfin, la méthodologie proposée pour traiter les données individuelles de pharmacovigilance est explicitée et appliquée à un échantillon de la base française de pharmacovigilance entre 2002 et 2010. / This thesis gathers methodological contributions to the statistical analysis of large datasets in pharmacovigilance. The pharmacovigilance datasets produce sparse and large matrices and these two characteritics are the main statistical challenges for modelling them. The first part of the thesis is dedicated to the coclustering of the pharmacovigilance contingency table thanks to the normalized Poisson latent block model. The objective is on the one hand, to provide pharmacologists with some interesting and reduced areas to explore more precisely. On the other hand, this coclustering remains a useful background information for dealing with individual database. Within this framework, a parameter estimation procedure for this model is detailed and objective model selection criteria are developed to choose the best fit model. Datasets are so large that we propose a procedure to explore the model space in coclustering, in a non exhaustive way but a relevant one. Additionnally, to assess the performances of the methods, a convenient coclustering index is developed to compare partitions with high numbers of clusters. The developments of these statistical tools are not specific to pharmacovigilance and can be used for any coclustering issue. The second part of the thesis is devoted to the statistical analysis of the large individual data, which are more numerous but also provides even more valuable information. The aim is to produce individual clusters according their drug profiles and subgroups of drugs and adverse effects with possible links, which overcomes the coprescription and masking phenomenons, common contingency table issues in pharmacovigilance. Moreover, the interaction between several adverse effects is taken into account. For this purpose, we propose a new model, the multiple latent block model which enables to cocluster two binary tables by imposing the same row ranking. Assertions inherent to the model are discussed and sufficient identifiability conditions for the model are presented. Then a parameter estimation algorithm is studied and objective model selection criteria are developed. Moreover, a numeric simulation model of the individual data is proposed to compare existing methods and study its limits. Finally, the proposed methodology to deal with individual pharmacovigilance data is presented and applied to a sample of the French pharmacovigilance database between 2002 and 2010.

The purpose of this dissertation was to use the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to predict Texas pharmacists’ intention to report serious adverse drug effects (ADEs) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The study explored the utility of the TPB model constructs (attitude [A], subjective norm [SN], perceived behavioral control [PBC]), as well as past reporting behavior (PRB), and perceived moral obligation (PMO) to predict pharmacists’ intention to report serious ADEs to the FDA. The study also determined if the pharmacists’ A, SN and PBC were related to practice characteristics and demographic factors. A survey was developed based on two focus group interviews, pretested and mailed to 1,500 Texas practicing pharmacists. An overall response rate of 26.4 percent was obtained (n = 377 pharmacists). Overall, pharmacists intended to report serious ADEs, had a favorable attitude towards reporting, were somewhat influenced by social norms regarding reporting and perceived themselves to have some control over reporting serious ADEs to the FDA. For direct measures, A and SN were significant predictors of intention to report serious ADEs, but PBC was not. The TPB constructs together accounted for 34.0 percent of the variance in intention to report serious ADEs to the FDA. Using indirect measures, A, SN and PBC were significant predictors of intention and together accounted for 28.8 percent of the variance in intention to report serious ADEs. PRB and PMO improved the explanatory power of the regression models (direct and indirect measures) over and above the TPB constructs. Unlike most other practice characteristics and demographic factors examined, knowledge was significantly related with the TPB constructs. In summary, A, SN, PBC (indirect measures), PRB, and PMO influence the formation of pharmacists’ intention to report serious ADEs. The TPB has utility in predicting ADE reporting behavior. Pharmacy educators should explore pharmacists’ attitudes, beliefs, and expectations of important others in designing educational programs. Strategies to help pharmacists report more serious ADEs should focus on altering their perception of social pressure towards reporting and addressing the barriers towards ADE reporting (e.g., lack of knowledge). / text

Pharmacovigilance is defined as the science and activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding, and prevention of adverse drug events (WHO 2004). Post-approval adverse drug events are a major health concern. They attribute to about 700,000 emergency department visits, 120,000 hospitalizations, and $75 billion in medical costs annually (Yang et al. 2014). However, certain adverse drug events are preventable if detected early. Timely and accurate pharmacovigilance in the post-approval period is an urgent goal of the public health system. The availability of various sources of healthcare data for analysis in recent years opens new opportunities for the data-driven pharmacovigilance research. In an attempt to leverage the emerging healthcare big data, pharmacovigilance research is facing a few challenges. Most studies in pharmacovigilance focus on structured and coded data, and therefore miss important textual data from patient social media and clinical documents in EHR. Most prior studies develop drug safety surveillance systems using a single data source with only one data mining algorithm. The performance of such systems is hampered by the bias in data and the pitfalls of the data mining algorithms adopted. In my dissertation, I address two broad research questions: 1) How do we extract rich adverse drug event related information in textual data for active drug safety surveillance? 2) How do we design an integrated pharmacovigilance system to improve the decision-making process for drug safety regulatory intervention? To these ends, the dissertation comprises three essays. The first essay examines how to develop a high-performance information extraction framework for patient reports of adverse drug events in health social media. I found that medical entity extraction, drug-event relation extraction, and report source classification are necessary components for this task. In the second essay, I address the scalability issue of using social media for pharmacovigilance by proposing a distant supervision approach for information extraction. In the last essay, I develop a MetaAlert framework for pharmacovigilance with advanced text mining and data mining techniques to provide timely and accurate detection of adverse drug reactions. Models, frameworks, and design principles proposed in these essays advance not only pharmacovigilance research, but also more broadly contribute to health IT, business analytics, and design science research.