TTE in perinatal pharmacoepidemiology
Understanding medication safety in pregnancy is important to address potential harms and to provide pregnant individuals and their providers with evidence to support decision making. Target trial emulation (TTE) has been proposed as a method to estimate effects of medications in a real-world setting. This approach is useful in the context of medication use in pregnancy given inherent challenges (e.g., detection of pregnancies, interdependence of events, etiologically relevant windows for exposure).
We have created a working group of international leaders across academia, public sector, and industry to address aligning causal estimands with clinical and policy relevant questions regarding medication use in pregnancy using a target trial framework. The group will discuss important considerations when defining the components of the target trial touching on aspects of the complexities of this area, including etiologically relevant time windows, point versus sustained treatments, and competing events.
This effort is being co-led by Dr. Mollie Wood, Dr. Sonia Grandi, and Dr. Robert Platt.
COVID-19 data considerations
The COVID-19 pandemic has had lasting impacts on the health and behavior of society. These acute and potentially chronic changes raises concerns regarding the potential heterogeneity of health outcomes and characteristics of populations prior to, during, and after the pandemic. This initiative will attempt to provide guidance on major challenges and considerations for use of data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic and offer potential methodological approaches to address data collected during this period. The working group will collate expert opinion from a variety of researchers and clinicians to inform a guidance document and future directions.
This effort is being led by Dr. Grandi in conjunction with a working group of scientists at The Hospital for Sick Children.