A methodological comparison of two European primary care databases and replication in a US claims database
inhaled long-acting beta-2-agonists and the risk of acute myocardial infarction
Afonso, A., Schmiedl, S., Becker, C., Tcherny-Lessenot, S., Primatesta, P., Plana Hortoneda, E., Souverein, P., Wang, Y., Korevaar, JC., Hasford, J., Reynolds, R., de, G., Schlienger, R., Klungel, O., & Rottenkolber, M. (2016). A methodological comparison of two European primary care databases and replication in a US claims database: inhaled long-acting beta-2-agonists and the risk of acute myocardial infarction. European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 72(9), 1105-1116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-016-2071-8
Abstract
For asthma or COPD patients, no statistically significant AMI-aHRs (age- and sex-adjusted) were found in the primary analysis. For patients with both diagnoses, a decreased AMI-aHR was found for current vs. recent LABA use in the CPRD GOLD (0.78; 95 % CI 0.68-0.90) and in Mondriaan (0.55; 95 % CI 0.28-1.08), too. The replication study yielded similar results. Adjusting for concomitant medication use and comorbidities, in addition to age and sex, had little impact on the results. By using a common protocol, we observed similar results in the primary analysis performed in two GP databases and in the replication study in a claims database. Regarding differences between databases, a common protocol facilitates interpreting results due to minimized methodological variations. However, results of multinational comparative observational studies might be affected by bias not fully addressed by a common protocol.
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