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Medication Exposure in Pregnancy Risk Evaluation Program

Abstract  

To describe a program to study medication safety in pregnancy, the Medication Exposure in Pregnancy Risk Evaluation Program
(MEPREP). MEPREP is a multi-site collaborative research program developed to enable the conduct of studies of medication use
and outcomes in pregnancy. Collaborators include the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and researchers at the HMO Research
Network, Kaiser Permanente Northern and Southern California, and Vanderbilt University. Datasets have been created at each
site linking healthcare data for women delivering an infant between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2008 and infants born
to these women. Standardized data files include maternal and infant characteristics, medication use, and medical care at 11
health plans within 9 states; birth certificate data were obtained from the state departments of public health. MEPREP currently
involves more than 20 medication safety researchers and includes data for 1,221,156 children delivered to 933,917 mothers.
Current studies include evaluations of the prevalence and patterns of use of specific medications and a validation study of
data elements in the administrative and birth certificate data files. MEPREP can support multiple studies by providing information
on a large, ethnically and geographically diverse population. This partnership combines clinical and research expertise and
data resources to enable the evaluation of outcomes associated with medication use during pregnancy.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • Pages 1-6
  • DOI 10.1007/s10995-011-0902-x
  • Authors
    • Susan E. Andrade, Meyers Primary Care Institute, 630 Plantation St., Worcester, MA 01605, USA
    • Robert L. Davis, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, Atlanta, GA, USA
    • T. Craig Cheetham, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Downey, CA, USA
    • William O. Cooper, School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
    • De-Kun Li, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA
    • Thushi Amini, Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD, USA
    • Sarah J. Beaton, LCF Research, Albuquerque, NM, USA
    • Sascha Dublin, Group Health Center for Health Studies, Seattle, WA, USA
    • Tarek A. Hammad, Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD, USA
    • Pamala A. Pawloski, HealthPartners Research Foundation, Bloomington, MN, USA
    • Marsha A. Raebel, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, Denver, CO, USA
    • David H. Smith, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Portland, OR, USA
    • Judy A. Staffa, Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD, USA
    • Sengwee Toh, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Mass, USA
    • Inna Dashevsky, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Mass, USA
    • Katherine Haffenreffer, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Mass, USA
    • Kimberly Lane, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Mass, USA
    • Richard Platt, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Mass, USA
    • Pamela E. Scott, Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD, USA