Pharmacoepidemiology versus Clinical Pharmacology and Epidemiology

Abstract

The aim of the Journal “Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety” is to provide an international forum for communication and evaluation of data methods and opinion in the emerging discipline of pharmacoepidemiology. The Journal publishes peer-reviewed reports of original research, invited reviews and a variety of guest editorials and commentaries embracing scientific, medical, statistical, and legal aspects of pharmacoepidemiology and post-marketing surveillance of drug safety. Appropriate material in these categories may also be considered for publication as a Brief Communication. Particular areas of interest include: design, analysis and interpretation of post-marketing surveillance and other studies looking at specific drugs in populations and methods for detection and evaluation of drug-associated adverse events, assessments of risk versus benefit ratios in drug therapy, patterns of drug utilization, and the formulation and interpretation of regulatory guidelines. Pharmacoepidemiology is a branch of science that investigates the use and effects (beneficial and deleterious) of medications (“pharmaco”) in large populations (“epidemiology”). Pharmacoepidemiology is called a bridge science bringing together pharmacology and pharmacy, clinical specialties, epidemiology, biostatistics, demography and social sciences. Epidemiology and clinical pharmacology are the two main bridgeheads. Pharmacoepidemiological studies identify the associations between a drug and one or more clinical events that had been missed in therapeutic trials. About 100,000 Americans die each year from Adverse Drug Reactions, and 1.5 million US hospitalizations each year result from Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs). Unfortunately, about 20-70% of ADRs may be preventable. The harmful and the negative side effects of drugs has led to the recent emergence of the field of pharmacoepidemiology [4].