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Use of self‐controlled designs in pharmacoepidemiology
Author(s) -
Hallas J.,
Pottegård A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of internal medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.625
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1365-2796
pISSN - 0954-6820
DOI - 10.1111/joim.12186
Subject(s) - pharmacoepidemiology , medicine , observational study , confounding , clinical study design , research design , intensive care medicine , pharmacology , clinical trial , statistics , medical prescription , mathematics
Self‐controlled observational study designs, such as the case–crossover design and the self‐controlled case series, are reviewed, and their respective rationale, strengths and limitations are compared. Although no single design is generally superior to the others, they share the trait of being robust towards confounders that are stable over time. The self‐controlled designs can be particularly useful when using secondary healthcare data for pharmacoepidemiological research and might be useful in screening for adverse drug effects. The main limitations of self‐controlled designs are that they are amenable only to transient effects; some may be inefficient with long‐term exposure; and they may be sensitive towards trends in exposure.