This multi-disciplinary, international, health-services research alliance fosters a common interest in studying the real-world impact of drug therapies in older adults with chronic disease (emphasizing cardiovascular, diabetes, and kidney disease), using large provincial databases, with the goal of improving the overall health of this group. The team focus, in the area of drug benefit and risk, fosters multidisciplinary collaboration and emphasizes research training for young investigators.
August 25, 2010:
Dr. Andrea Gruneir and a team of investigators' poster titled
"Exposure Classification for Case-Control Studies When Variables are Both Confounders and Intermediaries"
won first prize in the Database Special Interest Group (SIG) at the 26th ICPE (International Conference on Pharmacoepidemioly and Therapeutic Risk Management),
held in Brighton, England.
September 21, 2009:
This week the Canadian Conference on Dementia (CCD) and Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatry (CAGP) have chosen Dr. Dallas Seitz as this year’s recipient of The Future Leader Award sponsored by Pfizer.
This award is given to residents or fellows from geriatric medicine, geriatric psychiatry or neurology who demonstrates excellence in the field of dementia. Also as leaders in the field of dementia, Pfizer is pleased to partner with the CCD to support our future leaders who will provide the care of tomorrow to Canada’s seniors.
September 9, 2009:
Dr. Andrea Gruneir has been appointed as a scientist at the Women’s College Research Institute. Dr. Gruneir was recently awarded a five-year Career Scientist Award from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Through the career scientist awards program, the Ministry supports the best and brightest early researchers in the province to conduct independent research in health services research. Dr. Gruneir’s program of research was scored highly in the review process by both the scientific panel and the relevance panel.
Dr. Gruneir will use large population-based administrative databases to explore the health and support needs of the vulnerable older adults, primarily women, who reside in Ontario’s long-term care facilities. Andrea is currently leading a study examining the circumstances under which such at-risk individuals are sent to emergency rooms. She hopes to better understand how improvements in care might reduce such visits and the associated costs to both the patient and our health care system.
July 27, 2009:
This week in The Archives of Internal Medicine, Lorraine Lipscombe and a team of Investigators published an article titled "Antipsychotic Drugs and Hyperglycemia in Older Patients With Diabetes".
The authors found that among older patients with diabetes, the initiation of treatment with antipsychotic drugs was associated with a significantly increased risk of hospitalization for hyperglycemia. The risk was particularly high during the initial course of treatment and was increased with the use of all antipsychotic agents.
International media coverage of these findings included the The Globe and Mail, CBC and Canadian Press.
May 20, 2009:
This week in JAMA, Chaim Bell and a team of Investigators published an article titled "Association Between Tamsulosin and Serious Ophthalmic Adverse Events in Older Men Following Cataract Surgery".
The authors found that exposure to tamsulosin within 14 days of cataract surgery was significantly associated with serious postoperative ophthalmic adverse events. There were no significant associations with exposure to other a-blocker medications used to treat BPH.
International media coverage of these findings included the New York Times, Reuters and U.S. News & World Report.
August 28, 2008:
This week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Team members Elmira Valiyeva, Paula Rochon, Sudeep Gill and Geoffrey Anderson published an article titled "Effect of regulatory warnings on antipsychotic prescription rates among elderly patients with dementia: a population-based time-series analysis".
The authors found that despite Health Canada warnings regarding serious adverse events related to the use of atypical antipsychotic drugs, overall prescription rates of these drugs did not change. More effective interventions are necessary to improve post-market drug safety in vulnerable populations.
International media coverage of these findings included the Globe and Mail and Dagens Nyheter (Swedish language).
August 1, 2008:
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has published a commentary discussing the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) decision to warn physicians against the use of conventional antipsychotic medications for the treatment of dementia in elderly patients based on work done by the NET Team.
The FDA is requiring manufacturers of conventional antipsychotics (which include prochlorperazine, haloperidol, loxapine, thioridazine, molindone, thiothixene, pimozide, fluphenazine, trifluoperazine, chlorpromazine, and perphenazine) to add a boxed warning to the labels of these drugs notifying physicians that using conventional antipsychotics to treat behavioral problems in elderly patients with dementia is associated with an increased risk of
death.
Antipsychotic drugs are not approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with dementia. However, these drugs are commonly used off-label to treat dementia-related psychosis in elderly patients.
June 16, 2008:
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today issued a warning based in part on research published by the NET Team. This warning notifies healthcare providers that both conventional and atypical antipsychotics are associated with an increased risk of mortality in elderly patients treated for dementia-related psychosis. The FDA now requires the manufacturers of conventional antipsychotic drugs to add a Boxed Warning and Warning to the drugs’ prescribing information about the risk of mortality in elderly patients treated for dementia-related psychosis.
August 5, 2008:
This week in The Archives of Internal Medicine, Paula Rochon and a team of Investigators published an article titled "Antipsychotic Therapy and Short-term Serious Events in Older Adults With Dementia".
The authors found that serious adverse events, as indicated by a hospital admission or death, are frequent following the short-term use of antipsychotic drugs in older adults with dementia. This reinforces the need for health professionals to prescribe antipsychotic drugs with caution even when short-term therapy is being prescribed.
International media coverage of these findings included the Washington Post, Reuters and the National Post.
January 15, 2008:
This week in Health Services Research, post-doctoral fellow Andrea Gruneir and her colleagues at Brown University published an article titled "Relationship Between State Medicaid Policies, Nursing Home Racial Composition, and the Risk of Hospitalization for Black and White Residents" .
The authors found that black nursing home residents are more likely than their white counterparts to be hospitalized, but that this disparity is reduce in States with higher Medicaid reimbursement for Nursing Home care. This is because black residents are much more likely than white residents to be in nursing homes that are Medicaid reliant or otherwise defined as resource-poor. Their findings illustrate the effect of contextual forces on racial disparities in NH care.
Media coverage of these findings included The Washington Post and KaiserNetwork.org.
June 5, 2007:
This week in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Sudeep Gill and a team of Investigators published an article titled "Antipsychotic Drug Use and Mortality in Older Adults with Dementia".
The authors found an association between the use of atypical antipsychotic drugs and an increased risk for death compared to non-use in older adults with dementia, and the risk may be greater with conventional antipsychotics compared to atypical antipsychotics.
International media coverage of these findings included the CBC, CTV and the Globe and Mail.
For general information about the CIHR Team contact:
Henry Fletcher
phone: 416-480-4055 x 89342
fax: 416-480-6048
This research is sponsored by:
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research: Institutes of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes
