Cardiovascular diseases Publications

• Rates and determinants of reinitiating antihypertensive therapy after prolonged stoppage: a population-based study.Abstract

  OBJECTIVE: To assess patterns of restarting antihypertensive drugs after a prolonged period of discontinuation. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study among new users of blood pressure-lowering medication in the PHARMO database in the Ntherlands, who had a period of at least 180 days without such medication

  van Wijk BL, Avorn J, Solomon DH, Klungel OH, Heerdink ER, de Boer A, Brookhart AM. J Hypertens. 2007 Mar; 25 (3): 689-697.

• Use of beta-Blockers and the Risk of Hip/Femur Fracture in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands.Abstract

  Data from in vivo studies have indicated a role for beta-blockers in the prevention of bone loss. Some epidemiological studies have found protective effects of beta-blockers on fracture risk. However, there is limited information on the associationwith cumulative dose and type of beta-blockers used. We conducted two case-control studies using data from the UK General Practice Research Database (GPRD) and the Dutch PHARMO Record Linkage System (RLS)

  de Vries F, Souverein PC, Cooper C, Leufkens HG, van Staa TP. Calcif Tissue Int. 2007 Feb; 80 (2): 69-75.

• Higher persistence with valsartan compared with enalapril in daily practice.Abstract

  OBJECTIVE: To compare persistence with valsartan and enalapril in daily practice. METHODS: The PHARMO Record Linkage System includes various data registries including drug dispensing and hospitalizations for > or =2 million subjects in the Netherlads. Patients newly treated with valsartan or enalapril in the period of 1999-2002 were selected

  Siiskonen SJ, Breekveldt-Postma NS, Vincze G, Khan ZM, Erkens JA, Herings RM. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2007 3 (6): 1039-44.

• Adherence to evidence-based statin guidelines reduces the risk of hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction by 40%: a cohort study.Abstract

  AIMS: To investigate the ‘real world’ effectiveness of robust statin therapy, focusing on the effect of dose and early treatment discontinuation on the risk of hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). METHODS AND RESULTS: In the PHARMdatabase, including among others drug-dispensing and hospital discharge records for more than two million subjects in the Netherlands, 59 094 new users of statins in the period 1 January 1991 until 31 December 2004, >/= 18 years of age were identified

  Penning-van Beest FJ, Termorshuizen F, Goettsch WG, Klungel OH, Kastelein JJ, Herings RM. Eur Heart J. 2007 Jan; 28 (2): 154-9.

• Rosuvastatin safety: a comprehensive, international pharmacoepidemiology programme..Abstract

  Results from clinical trials and clinical practice have shown statins to be generally well tolerated with a low frequency of clinically relevant side effects. Nevertheless, there are rare occasions when adverse events (AEs), sometimes serious, mayccur. Rosuvastatin is the newest statin to be approved in the USA and many other countries

  Johansson S, EE Ming, MA Wallander , LA Rodriquez, Herings RM, Goettsch W, A Gonzales-Perez, AT McAfee, AM Walker. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2006 July; 15 (7): 454-61.

• Results from a rosuvastatin historical cohort study in more than 45,000 Dutch statin users, a PHARMO study..Abstract

  PURPOSE: Clinical benefits of statin therapy are accepted, but their safety profiles have been under scrutiny, particularly for the recently introduced statin, rosuvastatin, relating to serious adverse events involving muscle, kidney and liver. Theefore, a historical cohort study was performed to evaluate the association between rosuvastatin versus other statin use and the incidence of rhabdomyolysis, myopathy, acute renal failure and hepatic impairment

  Goettsch WG, Heintjes EM, Kastelein JJ, Rabelink TJ, Johansson S, Herings RM. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2006 July; 15 (7): 435-43.

• Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor use and pneumonia risk in a general population.Abstract

  The aim of the present study was to assess whether the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors is associated with a decreased risk of hospitalisation for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in a general, essentially white population. Dta were obtained from the Dutch PHARMO Record Linkage System

  van deGarde EM, Souverein PC, van den Bosch JM, Deneer VH, Leufkens HG. Eur Respir J. 2006 Jun; 27 (6): 1217-22.

• Initial non-compliance with antihypertensive monotherapy is followed by complete discontinuation of antihypertensive therapy.Abstract

  PURPOSE: Discontinuation with treatment is a major problem in the treatment of hypertension. The objective of our study was to assess the association between non-compliance and discontinuation in patients who started using antihypertensive monotherpy. METHODS: A nested case-control study within a cohort of new users of antihypertensive drugs between 1st January 1999 and 31st December 2002 was performed

  VanWijk BL, Klungel OH, Heerdink ER, de Boer A. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2006 Apr 3; 15 (8): 587-93.

• The association between antihypertensive drugs and glioma.Abstract

  We pursued an association between hypertension and gliomas by investigating whether antihypertensive drugs (AHD) are associated with an increased glioma risk by a population-based nested case-control study using the PHARMO database; this links dispnsing records of prescription drugs to hospital discharge data on an individual basis

  Houben MP, Coebergh JW, Herings RM, Casparie MK, Tijssen CC, van Duijn CM, Stricker BH. Br J Cancer. 2006 Mar 13; 94 (5): 752-6.

• Improving pharmacotherapy after myocardial infarction by group academic detailing using feedback data on a patient level.Abstract

  STUDY OBJECTIVE: To develop and evaluate a peer review group (PRG) meeting using feedback data on a patient level to improve the quality of drug therapy for prevention of recurrent myocardial infarction. DESIGN: Prospective follow-up study. DATA SORCE: General practitioners’ computerized patients records (intervention patients) and the PHARMO record linkage system (controls)

  van der Elst ME, Bouvy ML, deBlaey CJ, deBoer A. Pharmacotherapy. 2006 Feb; 26 (2): 254-9.