OBJECTIVE: Asthma is a major public health problem with considerable economic impact. The highest costs being observed in patients with severe asthma. Furthermore, despite the use of recommended therapies, asthma control can still be poor. Therefor, the objective of this study was to assess the extent of uncontrolled disease and associated medical costs in severe asthma
PURPOSE: To study persistence with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and its determinants in asthma-patients. METHODS: From the PHARMO database, asthma-patients (age < 35 years) with a first dispensing for ICS in 1999-2002 and >/= 2 dispensings in theirst year were included. Persistence during the first year was defined as the number of days from start to time of first failure to continue renewal of the initial ICS
BACKGROUND: Use of inhaled corticosteroids may reduce the risk of acute myocardial infarction (MI) through reductions in systemic inflammation and C-reactive protein. OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between the use of inhaled corticosteroidsand the risk of non-fatal acute MI. METHODS: In the Dutch PHARMO record linkage system database, we conducted a case-control study (2476 MI cases), nested in a cohort of antihypertensive drug users
BACKGROUND: Tiotropium is a once-daily inhaled anticholinergic maintenance treatment with demonstrated effectiveness in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). OBJECTIVE: To compare persistence of tiotropium-use with other inhaled respiratorydrugs in COPD in current clinical practice. METHODS: The PHARMO database includes, among others, drug-dispensing and hospital discharge records for 2 million subjects in the Netherlands
INTRODUCTION: Administration of beta-2 agonists decreased bone mineral density in rats. But the association between bronchodilators and fracture risk has not been studied in humans. OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between use of beta-2 agonits and risk of hip/femur fracture. METHODS: We conducted a population-based case-control study (6763 cases) in the Dutch PHARMO database
BACKGROUND: In order to accurately distinguish gaps of varying length in drug treatment for chronic conditions from discontinuation without resuming therapy, short-term observation does not suffice. Thus, the use of inhalation corticosteroids (ICS)in the long-term, during a ten-year period is investigated
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
