Computer-Aided Pharmacoepidemiology in Drug Use and Safety: Examining the Intersection between Data Science and Medicines Research

Pharmacoepidemiology is a relatively new area of study that focuses on research aimed at producing data about drugs’ usage and safety in well-defined populations. Its significant impact on patient safety has translated into improving health care systems worldwide, where it has been widely adopted. This field has developed to an extent that policy and guidelines makers have started using its evidence alongside that produced from randomised controlled clinical trials. Although this significant improvement has been partly attributed to the adoption of statistics and computer-aided models into the way pharmacoepidemiology studies are designed and conducted, certain gaps still exist. This chapter reports some of the significant developments made, along with the gaps observed so far, in the adoption of statistics and computing into pharmacoepidemiology research. The goal is to highlight efforts that have led to the new pharmacoepidemiology developments, while examining the intersection between data science and pharmacology through research narrative reviews of computer-aided pharmacology. The chapter shows the significant number of initiatives that have been applied/adopted to improve pharmacoepidemiology research. Nonetheless, further developments in integrating pharmacoepidemiology with computers and statistics are needed in order to enhance the research agenda.

The Experiences of People Living With Chronic Pain During a Pandemic: “Crumbling Dreams With Uncertain Futures”

People living with chronic pain experience multiple challenges in their daily activities. Chronic pain is complex and often provokes life circumstances that create increased social isolation. Living with chronic pain during the pandemic may add additional layers of complexity to their daily lives. The researchers endeavored to explore the experiences of people living with chronic pain during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers conducted semi-structured, open-ended interviews about how the pandemic influenced participants’ lives. The interviews were recorded and analyzed using an applied philosophical hermeneutics approach. The findings were feeling socially isolated, losing their sense of livinghood, and experiencing augmented stress levels which, in most cases, aggravated their chronic pain. In addition to gaining an in-depth understanding of the needs of people living with chronic pain, these findings may guide policy decisions with the intention of improving health care access and the overall experiences of people living with chronic conditions during a pandemic.

Genetic Science is Brilliant – Can We Afford it?

The prospects for the application of pharmacogenomic science for improving health care appear to be exciting, and it should be recognized rightly for its clinical applicability. Notwithstanding, the use of these techniques needs to be viewed in context. When people can reliably access safe and effective medicines at an affordable cost and with consistent support from pharmacists to ensure the outcomes are optimized and the prospect of iatrogenic disease is minimized, then there is no doubt that the wider adoption of these techniques needs to be embraced with enthusiasm.