Medical Care in Germany

Pharmacoepidemiological databases are a very useful tool, without which well-directed quality improvements and targeted risk management of adverse drug effects would not be possible. Data from such retrospective databases allow investigations into specific subpopulations - e.g., groups with specific diagnoses - thanks to their size and duration of observation. Regarding the quality of such data, it has been proven that carefully planned observational studies can produce results comparable to those of randomized controlled trials. This book presents eight epidemiological and health-economic studies based on two large epidemiological databases: IMS Disease Analyzer database and IMS LRx. The IMS® Disease Analyzer patient database is one of the most comprehensive pharmacoepidemiological databases in Europe. It has been the basis of a number of studies and peer-reviewed scientific publications in the fields of pharmacoepidemiology, health economics, pharmacovigilance, compliance/persistence, pharmaceutical guidelines, prescribing behavior, and drug application. Using these databases, a great number of studies have been conducted to analyze the duration, adverse effects, success, costs, and courses of and compliance with therapies and therapy changes. The studies also play an important part in drug safety and risk prevention. The IMS® LRx database accesses nationwide pharmacy data centers processing prescription data of all German patients with statutory health insurance for reimbursement purposes. It contains roughly 95 % of all prescriptions issued nationwide since 2008. The compilation of studies in this book illustrates the benefits of secondary data in the form of retrospective databases for everyday healthcare.