Use of a VA pharmacy database to screen for areas at high risk for disease: Parkinson's disease and exposure to pesticides. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • The purpose of this study was to assess whether pharmacy database information from US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers could be used to screen for areas of higher Parkinson's disease prevalence in patients exposed to pesticides. The authors used pharmacy data sets and compared the use of antiparkinsonian medications at 2 VA medical centers in California: one in Palo Alto, near the ocean, and one in Fresno, downwind from extensively farmed parts of the Central Valley. They found that patients at Fresno had higher odds ratios (1.5-1.8) for the use of Parkinson's disease medications than patients at Palo Alto. These data are consistent with the observations of prior epidemiologic studies and suggest that VA pharmacy databases can prioritize locations for further epidemiologic research. However, a thorough exploration of alternative explanations is needed to reach definitive conclusions regarding the findings suggested by this method.

publication date

  • March 1, 2004

Research

keywords

  • Antiparkinson Agents
  • Databases as Topic
  • Environmental Exposure
  • Hospital Information Systems
  • Mass Screening
  • Parkinson Disease, Secondary
  • Pesticides
  • Pharmacy Service, Hospital
  • Veterans

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 10744227381

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1177/0891988703258672

PubMed ID

  • 15018696

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 17

issue

  • 1