This book is designed primarily for undergraduate, professional
educational experiences with students and practicing pharmacists. The
concepts and methods of pharmacoepidemiology are also of value to other
health professionals, public health workers, members of pharmaceutical
industry, and anyone who is interested in an introductory review of
pharmacoepidemiology.
Pharmacoepidemiology texts
and reference books have become available recently for the graduate student
in public health, medicine, and the pharmaceutical sciences. Epidemiology
has not been as accessible for undergraduate and professional students.
There are currently very few instances of required pharmacoepidemiology
coursework in the curricula of American colleges of pharmacy. Public health
courses, once required in the pharmaceutical curricula up through the 1970s,
are no longer available to most student pharmacists. This makes it difficult
to introduce epidemiology, the scientific method of public health, without a
basis in public health. The first two chapters, then, are an attempt to
provide the reader with a sense of the foundation of epidemiology in public
health, through the study of populations, in which health problems are
identified, assessed, and prevented or resolved.
Our experiences, and input from colleagues in pharmacy, public health,
medical sociology, and statistics, have led us to believe that the best
focus of our primer would be for students in research methods or drug
literature evaluation courses. Our introductory review of the principles and
methods of epidemiology, statistics, and their application to drug use and
postmarketing surveillance of pharmaceutical products, is intended to
provide a basic understanding of what pharmacoepidemiology is and how it
works in practice. Along the way, readers also will be introduced briefly to
public health and epidemiology. Some readers may become interested enough in
this subject to pursue careers in this growing discipline. After finishing
our primer, students and other readers, who desire more advanced knowledge,
skills, and case studies, are strongly encouraged to pursue graduatelevel
and professional texts, as well as the journals, conferences, and
organizations that represent pharmacoepidemiology.
We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Rebecca Maki for wonderful
illustrations, Tracy Ward for organizational assistance with the manuscript,
and our very patient editor at McGraw-Hill, Steve Zollo. Brenda Waning
thanks her friend and mentor, Sue Fish, for convincing her to pursue a
graduate education in public health. Mike Montagne still is eternally
grateful that the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy had required
public health courses in their curriculum (at least in the 1970s), and that
James Anthony convinced him to be a post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins
University and provided, along with other faculty, an excellent foundation
in epidemiology and public health.
We are
interested in receiving ideas, case studies, criticisms, and suggestions
from our readers. Please send them to us in care of McGraw-Hill. We hope
readers enjoy and learn from our primer, and we wish them all the best in
their pharmacoepidemiological investigations.
Brenda Waning
Michael Montagne
Boston, Massachusetts