Mohsen Sadatsafavi
Research Classification
Research Interests
Relevant Thesis-Based Degree Programs
Affiliations to Research Centres, Institutes & Clusters
Research Options
Research Methodology
Recruitment
My lab (Respiratory Evaluation Sciences Program - https://resp.core.ubc.ca/) is looking for a brilliant graduate student (MSc or PhD) for exciting projects in predictive analytics and decision modeling.
The project is part of the $2M The Canadian Institutes of Health Research-funded IMPACT study (https://resp.core.ubc.ca/research/Specific_Projects/IMPACT) involves creating sophisticated risk prediction models for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (to predict disease outcomes), implementing these models into electronic Health Record (EHR) systems, and evaluating their impact on patient care and outcomes. This is an analytically demanding project that requires innovations on risk prediction using EHR data, dynamic updating of risk prediction models, and novel methods for quantifying uncertainty in predictions and evaluating the cost-effectiveness of risk and treatment effect prediction.
The candidate is expected to contribute to the methodological aspects of predictive analytics (risk prediction modeling, treatment benefit modeling, value of information analysis). The candidate will have multiple opportunities for interacting with several other trainees, post-doctoral fellows, research staff, and faculty members. The RESP lab is embedded within Collaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation at Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, one of the largest health outcomes groups in Vancouver.
The candidate will require quantitative background (preferably a degree in statistics, mathematics, or a similar field) and a lot of motivation for pursuing a successful career as a scientist.
Interested candidate please contact Mohsen Sadatsafavi (msafavi@mail.ubc.ca).
Our lab looks for students / PDFs who are well versed in quantitative methods who are interested in applying their knowledge and skills to health research. Our graduate students and PDFs have come from such disciplines as Mathematics, Physics, Statistics, and Health Economics. We also welcome students with background in medical / health research field if they are willing to learn (quantitative) epidemiology.
Our visition is to mentor graduate studiets and PDFs for a career as an indepenent investigator in Academia. Our graduate students have been very suucessful in securing Faculty positions in reputable schools across the globe.
Complete these steps before you reach out to a faculty member!
- Familiarize yourself with program requirements. You want to learn as much as possible from the information available to you before you reach out to a faculty member. Be sure to visit the graduate degree program listing and program-specific websites.
- Check whether the program requires you to seek commitment from a supervisor prior to submitting an application. For some programs this is an essential step while others match successful applicants with faculty members within the first year of study. This is either indicated in the program profile under "Admission Information & Requirements" - "Prepare Application" - "Supervision" or on the program website.
- Identify specific faculty members who are conducting research in your specific area of interest.
- Establish that your research interests align with the faculty member’s research interests.
- Read up on the faculty members in the program and the research being conducted in the department.
- Familiarize yourself with their work, read their recent publications and past theses/dissertations that they supervised. Be certain that their research is indeed what you are hoping to study.
- Compose an error-free and grammatically correct email addressed to your specifically targeted faculty member, and remember to use their correct titles.
- Do not send non-specific, mass emails to everyone in the department hoping for a match.
- Address the faculty members by name. Your contact should be genuine rather than generic.
- Include a brief outline of your academic background, why you are interested in working with the faculty member, and what experience you could bring to the department. The supervision enquiry form guides you with targeted questions. Ensure to craft compelling answers to these questions.
- Highlight your achievements and why you are a top student. Faculty members receive dozens of requests from prospective students and you may have less than 30 seconds to pique someone’s interest.
- Demonstrate that you are familiar with their research:
- Convey the specific ways you are a good fit for the program.
- Convey the specific ways the program/lab/faculty member is a good fit for the research you are interested in/already conducting.
- Be enthusiastic, but don’t overdo it.
G+PS regularly provides virtual sessions that focus on admission requirements and procedures and tips how to improve your application.
ADVICE AND INSIGHTS FROM UBC FACULTY ON REACHING OUT TO SUPERVISORS
These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a potential thesis supervisor.
Supervision Enquiry
Great Supervisor Week Mentions
Thank you so much, Mohsen Sadatsafavi, for your supervision and dedication in the last years!
Mohsen is a fantastic supervisor. He pushes you to succeed and is supportive at those inevitable times when you don't. He has been instrumental in my development as a scientist and has created a wonderful lab environment for developing as a person. I truly have #GreatSupervisor!
Graduate Student Supervision
Doctoral Student Supervision
Dissertations completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest dissertations.
Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a highly prevalent disease that often goes undiagnosed. Reducing the burden of undiagnosed COPD requires well designed early detection programs that have been formally evaluated. Objectives: The objective of this thesis was to determine whether there are subgroups of COPD patients in which case detection, followed by evidence-based disease management, would be cost-effective compared with the status quo (no case detection). To answer this question, I 1) identified factors that distinguish patients with undiagnosed from those with diagnosed COPD, 2) assessed heterogeneity in the presence of respiratory symptoms, 3) analysed healthcare encounters prior to COPD diagnosis to identify opportunities for case detection, and 4) evaluated the cost-effectiveness of early detection strategies. Methods: I performed a systematic review to generate pooled odds ratios for factors associated with a COPD diagnosis. I used data from a population-based Canadian study to assess heterogeneity between individuals in the occurrence of respiratory symptoms. I characterised healthcare encounters before COPD diagnosis using health administrative data from British Columbia. I combined evidence from Objectives 1-3 in a whole disease model of COPD to assess the cost-effectiveness of case detection strategies implemented during routine primary care visits.Results: Patients with diagnosed COPD were less likely to have mild disease (OR 0.30, 95%CI 0.24–0.37) and more likely to report respiratory symptoms (OR 11.45 95%CI 7.20–18.21) than patients with undiagnosed COPD. However, individual-specific probabilities for the occurrence of symptoms indicated substantial heterogeneity between patients. COPD patients frequently visited primary care physicians before diagnosis (mean 10.29, IQR 4–13 visits/year). In the two years prior to diagnosis, 72.1% of COPD patients had a respiratory-related primary care visit that did not result in a diagnosis. In the preferred case detection strategy, all patients ≥40 years received a screening questionnaire during their routine visits to a primary care physician. This strategy had an Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio of $18,791/QALY compared to no case detection.Conclusions: Patients with undiagnosed COPD have identifiable characteristics, they frequently encounter the healthcare system, and strategies for improving their early detection are cost-effective when combined with guideline-recommended treatment.
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This thesis examines the burden of asthma and its determinants though a series of longitudinal observational studies. Objectives: 1) To quantify the natural history of severe asthma and the impact of early risk factors; 2) To examine the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on excess direct medical costs of moderate-to-severe asthma and guideline-based asthma care; 3) To estimate excess costs of asthma and the economic implications of comorbidities; 4) To assess the joint influences of asthma control and comorbidity on health-related quality of life. Methods: For the first three objectives, administrative health data (for the period of 1997-2013) were obtained from British Columbia (BC) Ministry of Health, and for the last objective data were obtained from the Economic Burden of Asthma (EBA) study in BC. Various models for longitudinal data were applied for each objective. Findings: 1) Most patients (83%) with incident severe asthma transitioned to milder states after 10 years. Low SES and comorbidity at disease onset led to worse long-term prognosis. 2) Across both individual- and neighborhood-levels, there was evidence that low-SES asthma patients and/or their care providers did not follow guideline-based asthma care and subsequently incurred substantially greater excess costs of asthma. 3) Excess costs in patients with asthma were $1187/year (95%CI $1130─$1243) overall, with comorbidity-attributable costs five times higher than asthma-attributable costs, all of which greatly increased with age. 4) Changes in asthma control had a greater effect on disease-specific (AQ5D) than generic (EQ5D) utilities, whereas changes in comorbidity burden had a larger impact on EQ5D than AQ5D utilities. Conclusions: With several novel methodology techniques, this thesis provided evidence for the first-time on the long-term trajectory and burden of asthma. Projection of cost and effectiveness of decisions and policies in asthma care requires a robust understanding of the natural history of asthma, effect of risk factors on this trajectory, and estimates of costs and health-related quality of life associated with asthma. This thesis provides new evidence on all such parameters. These findings have direct relevance to estimating cost-effectiveness of health technologies in asthma and can result in more informed decision-making in health policy and clinical practice.
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Background: Reducing the burden associated with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) requires addressing challenging care gaps. Mathematical decision-analytic models are among the best tools to address such challenges. Objectives: My overall aim in this thesis was to identify cost-effective treatments in asthma, and to quantify the value of personalizing treatments in COPD. These goals led to four specific objectives: 1) To inform the economic and health impact of improving adherence to the standard controller medications in asthma; 2) To assess the cost-effectiveness step-up treatment options for severe asthma patients; 3) To build a framework for individualized prediction of lung function in COPD; and 4) To quantify the value of personalizing COPD treatments. Methods: Cohort-based models were used to quantify the benefit of improving adherence to controller medications and evaluating the cost-effectiveness of treatments for severe asthma. Mixed-effects regression with external validation was undertaken to project lung function decline up to 11 years for COPD. Microsimulation was used to fully incorporate disease heterogeneity to evaluate the return on investment from individualizing treatments in COPD. All modeling studies were based on careful evidence synthesis and original data analyses whenever required. Results: Improving adherence to controller medications in asthma results in a gain of 0.13 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) at the incremental cost of $3,187 per patient over 10 years. Even with full adherence, 23% of patients would remain uncontrolled. For this group, the addition of bronchial thermoplasty was associated with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $78,700/QALY. Clinical variables explain 88% of variability in lung function decline. The efforts towards individualizing treatments based on patients’ clinical traits would be associated with an additional $1,265 net benefit per person. Conclusion: The analyses in this thesis demonstrate the value of mathematical simulation models in evaluating the outcomes of policies and scenarios. It is unlikely that any empirical research per se would be able to provide the insight generated in this thesis regarding the identified care gaps. Mathematical models can not only be used to evaluate the outcomes associated with specific interventions, but also to objectively document the return on investment in personalized medicine.
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Master's Student Supervision
Theses completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest theses.
Background: Contemporary management guidelines for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) rely on exacerbation history to risk-stratify patients and guide therapy for the prevention of future exacerbations. However, exacerbation history alone may not reliably predict future exacerbations due to random variability in frequency. To address this problem, multivariable prediction models have been developed to improve predictive accuracy. Objective: The objective of this thesis was to assess the generalizability of COPD exacerbation risk stratification algorithms and assess whether the inclusion of race improves the performance of such algorithms. Methods: I evaluated three algorithms: the Acute COPD Exacerbation Prediction Tool (ACCEPT), a prediction model by Bertens et al., and exacerbation history alone, using data from three COPD clinical trials representing different levels of exacerbation risk. I examined discrimination, calibration, and clinical utility as measures for model performance. I then recalibrated the models using the setting-specific exacerbation risk for comparison. I explored race as a variable that could convey information on background risk and assessed whether adjusting for race with a random-effects approach could improve model performance. Results: Both prediction models had better discrimination compared to exacerbation history alone with Δ area under the curves (AUCs) ranging from 0.05 to 0.10 (P-values 0.17. There were also no notable improvements to calibration, clinical utility, or goodness-of-fit (P-value 0.15) after race-adjustment. Conclusions: Risk stratification algorithms for COPD exacerbations are not universally applicable across all settings. However, the flexibility of clinical prediction models allows them to be updated to accommodate setting differences.
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Low-dose oral azithromycin therapy is recommended as a preventive treatment for acute exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). However, its role in the treatment of COPD remains controversial owing to its side effects. I determined the overall benefit- harm balance as well as the cost-effectiveness of using long-term azithromycin as an add-on to maximal inhaled therapy in the management of patients with COPD, compared with maximal inhaled therapy alone.To evaluate the benefit-harm of azithromycin, I created a probabilistic Markov model of COPD to simulate the course of COPD over 20 years. For assessing the cost-effectiveness, I extended a previously validated health economics model of COPD for Canada to include azithromycin-related outcomes. In both studies, the benefit of azithromycin was modelled as a reduction in exacerbation rates. Adverse events, including cardiovascular events, hearing loss, gastrointestinal symptoms, and antimicrobial resistance (leading to a gradual decline in the effectiveness of azithromycin), were considered. All outcomes were assigned a health-related utility weight to estimate the overall net change in the quality-adjusted life years (QALY) associated with the use of azithromycin. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was defined as the incremental costs (in 2020 Canadian dollars) per QALY gained, and per exacerbation avoided, with costs and health outcomes discounted at 1.5% per year. All outcomes were calculated among subgroups with different exacerbation histories.In the first study, among patients with a positive exacerbation history, azithromycin resulted in a net QALY gain of 17.9 per 100 patients (99.8% probability of positive expected QALY gain) over 20 years. The net benefit increased to 21.8 QALYs per 100 patients (99.9% probability of positive expected QALY gain) among the ‘frequent exacerbators’. In the second study, the ICER was $16,850 per QALY gained for treatment with azithromycin among patients with a positive exacerbation history. The ICER decreased to $8,544 per person over 20 years among the ‘frequent exacerbator’ subgroup. Azithromycin had an ICER greater than $100,000 per QALY gained among those without any moderate/severe exacerbations in the previous year. Findings were robust against a series of sensitivity, scenario, and threshold analyses.
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Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a common chronic disease of the airways responsible for significant burden to the patient and health-care systems. Pharmacotherapy is a cornerstone of COPD management. We aimed at evaluating population-level trends of filled inhaled prescriptions over the time course of COPD and their agreement with guidelines. Further, inhaled medications have potential side effects that are not sufficiently investigated. We aimed to examine the association between use of long-acting or short-acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMA and SAMA) and the risk of acute angle-closure glaucoma (AACG) in COPD. We used administrative health databases in British Columbia, Canada to create a cohort of COPD patients. We quantified inhaled medication prescriptions within each year of follow-up, and documented their trends over the time course of COPD. Using generalized linear models, we investigated the association between the frequent exacerbator status and filling a prescription after a physician visit. To assess AACG risk, a case-control study was nested within this cohort. All cases of AACG followed by laser iridotomy were obtained and matched to controls by age, sex, and calendar time. The exposure to LAMA/SAMA was categorized into three levels: current use (≥ 1 prescription of LAMA or SAMA during the last 30 days), new use (initiated medication in the last 30 days), and past use (≥ 1 prescription in 6 months to 30 days before AACG). Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate the rate ratio (RR) of AACG controlling for confounders.The most common medication class in COPD incident cohort during the first year of diagnosis was inhaled corticosteroids (ICS, used by 49.9%). We documented low utilization of monotherapies (specifically LAMA) and high utilization of combination therapies (particularly containing ICS). Moreover, specialists were less likely to consider exacerbation history in the choice of therapies compared with general practitioners. In the safety study, 92 cases were matched to 460 controls. We demonstrated that the use of inhaled muscarinic antagonists in a COPD population, regardless of dose and timing, does not appear to affect the risk of AACG (adjusted RR:1.14, 95%CI [0.64 to 2.01], p=0.65). Results remained consistent in sensitivity analyses.
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News Releases
Publications
- A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Azithromycin for the Prevention of Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (2023)
Annals of the American Thoracic Society, - A long overdue recognition: COPD as a distinct predictor of cardiovascular disease risk (2023)
European Respiratory Journal, - Closed-Form Solution of the Unit Normal Loss Integral in 2 Dimensions, with Application in Value-of-Information Analysis (2023)
Medical Decision Making, - Generalizability of Risk Stratification Algorithms for Exacerbations in COPD (2023)
Chest, - IMplementing Predictive Analytics towards efficient COPD Treatments (IMPACT): protocol for a stepped-wedge cluster randomized impact study (2023)
Diagnostic and Prognostic Research, - QRISK3 underestimates the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with COPD (2023)
Thorax, - Real-World Cost Effectiveness of a Policy of KRAS Testing to Inform Cetuximab or Panitumumab for Third-Line Therapy of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer in British Columbia, Canada (2023)
PharmacoEconomics - Open, - Value-of-Information Analysis for External Validation of Risk Prediction Models (2023)
Medical Decision Making, - ACCEPT 2·0: Recalibrating and externally validating the Acute COPD exacerbation prediction tool (ACCEPT) (2022)
eClinicalMedicine, - Benefit–harm analysis of azithromycin for the prevention of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (2022)
Thorax, - Characterization of Patients in the International Severe Asthma Registry with High Steroid Exposure Who Did or Did Not Initiate Biologic Therapy (2022)
Journal of Asthma and Allergy, - Developing an Online Infrastructure to Enhance Model Accessibility and Validation: The Peer Models Network (2022)
PharmacoEconomics, - IMplementing Predictive Analytics towards efficient COPD Treatments (IMPACT): Protocol for a stepped wedge cluster randomized impact study (2022)
- Long-Term Natural History of Severe Asthma Exacerbations and Their Impact on the Disease Course (2022)
Annals of the American Thoracic Society, 19 (6), 907--915 - Model-Based ROC Curve: Examining the Effect of Case Mix and Model Calibration on the ROC Plot (2022)
Medical Decision Making, - Tools for the Economic Evaluation of Precision Medicine: A Scoping Review of Frameworks for Valuing Heterogeneity-Informed Decisions (2022)
PharmacoEconomics, - Uncertainty and the Value of Information in Risk Prediction Modeling (2022)
Medical Decision Making, - Are COPD Prescription Patterns Aligned with Guidelines? Evidence from a Canadian Population-Based Study (2021)
International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, - Does the occurrence of a severe asthma exacerbation change the rate of subsequent events? (2021)
- Informing Healthcare Decisions with Observational Research Assessing Causal Effect. An Official American Thoracic Society Research Statement (2021)
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, - Moving beyond AUC: decision curve analysis for quantifying net benefit of risk prediction models (2021)
European Respiratory Journal, 58 (5), 2101186 - Should the number of acute exacerbations in the previous year be used to guide treatments in COPD? (2021)
European Respiratory Journal, , 2002122 - The cost-effectiveness of as-needed budesonide-formoterol versus low-dose inhaled corticosteroid maintenance therapy in patients with mild asthma in Canada (2021)
Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology, - The economics of precision health: preventing air pollution-induced exacerbation in asthma (2021)
ERJ Open Research, , 00790--2020 - Trends in oral corticosteroids use in severe asthma: a 14-year population-based study (2021)
Respiratory Research, - Vaccination of Front-Line Workers with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine: Benefits in the Face of Increased Risk for Prothrombotic Thrombocytopenia (2021)
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Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) to Support Adherence to Falls Prevention Clinic Recommendations: A Qualitative Study
(2020)
Patient Preference and Adherence, -
The Long-Term Burden of COPD Exacerbations During Maintenance Therapy and Lung Function Decline
(2020)
International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, - A threshold‐free summary index for quantifying the capacity of covariates to yield efficient treatment rules (2020)
Statistics in Medicine, - An Individualized Prediction Model for Long-term Lung Function Trajectory and Risk of COPD in the General Population (2020)
Chest, 157 (3), 547-557 - Association between COPD exacerbations and lung function decline during maintenance therapy (2020)
Thorax, 75 (9), 744--753 - Avoiding immortal time bias in observational studies (2020)
The European respiratory journal, 55 (3) - Cost-effectiveness of implementing objective diagnostic verification of asthma in the United States (2020)
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 145 (5), 1367-1377.e4 - Development of a Conceptual Model of Childhood Asthma to Inform Asthma Prevention Policies (2020)
- Effects of long-term inhaled corticosteroid treatment on fragility fractures in older women: the Manitoba BMD registry study (2020)
Osteoporosis International, 31 (6), 1155-1162 - Effects of β2-Adrenergic Agonists on Risk of Parkinson's Disease in COPD: A Population-Based Study (2020)
Pharmacotherapy, 40 (5), 408-415 - International Severe Asthma Registry: Mission Statement (2020)
Chest, 157 (4), 805-814 - Looking at the COPD spectrum through “PRISm” (2020)
European Respiratory Journal, 55 (1), 1902217 - Metabolic profiles among COPD and controls in the CanCOLD population-based cohort (2020)
PLoS ONE, 15 (4) - Performance Characteristics of Spirometry With Negative Bronchodilator Response and Methacholine Challenge Testing and Implications for Asthma Diagnosis (2020)
Chest, 158 (2), 479-490 - Pharmacologic Management of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease An Official American Thoracic Society Clinical Practice Guideline (2020)
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 201 (9), E56-E69 - Response (2020)
Chest, 157 (3), 738-739 - Socioeconomic status at diagnosis influences the incremental direct medical costs of systemic lupus erythematosus: A longitudinal population-based study (2020)
Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism, 50 (1), 77-83 - Statin use and lung cancer risk in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients: A population-based cohort study (2020)
Respiratory Research, 21 (1) - The cost-effectiveness of as-needed budesonide/formoterol versus low-dose inhaled corticosteroid maintenance therapy in patients with mild asthma in the UK (2020)
Respiratory Medicine, 171 - Trends in oral corticosteroids use in severe asthma: a 14-year population-based study from Canada (2020)
- Understanding resource utilization and mortality in COPD to support policy making: A microsimulation study (2020)
PLOS ONE, - Validation and Utility Testing of Clinical Prediction Models: Time to Change the Approach (2020)
JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association, -
Trends in prescriptions and costs of inhaled medications in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a 19-year population-based study from Canada
(2019)
International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, - A Systematic Review of Decision-Analytic Models for Evaluating Cost-Effectiveness of Asthma Interventions (2019)
Value in Health, 22 (9), 1070-1082 - A systematic review of the adverse events and economic impact associated with oral corticosteroids in asthma (2019)
Journal of Asthma, 56 (12), 1334-1346 - Baseline characteristics and comorbidities in the CAnadian REgistry for Pulmonary Fibrosis (2019)
BMC Pulmonary Medicine, 19 (1) - Cost-effectiveness of latent tuberculosis infection screening before immigration to low-incidence countries (2019)
Emerging Infectious Diseases, 25 (4), 661-671 - Costs of Workplace Productivity Loss in Patients With Fibrotic Interstitial Lung Disease (2019)
Chest, - Development and Validation of the Evaluation Platform in COPD (EPIC): A Population-Based Outcomes Model of COPD for Canada (2019)
Medical Decision Making, 39 (2), 152--167 - Direct costs of overdiagnosed asthma: a longitudinal, population-based cohort study in British Columbia, Canada (2019)
BMJ Open, 9 (11), e031306 - Economic burden of multimorbidity in patients with severe asthma: A 20-year population-based study (2019)
Thorax, - Excess Productivity Costs of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic Sclerosis, and Sjögren's Syndrome: A General Population–Based Study (2019)
Arthritis Care and Research, 71 (1), 142-154 - Extent, trends, and determinants of controller/reliever balance in mild asthma: a 14-year population-based study (2019)
Respiratory Research, 20 (1) - Healthcare system encounters before COPD diagnosis: A registry-based longitudinal cohort study (2019)
Thorax, - Impaired Sleep Quality in COPD Is Associated With Exacerbations: The CanCOLD Cohort Study (2019)
Chest, 156 (5), 852-863 - Inhaled corticosteroids and the risk of lung cancer in COPD: A population-based cohort study (2019)
European Respiratory Journal, 53 (6) - Introduction to precision medicine in COPD (2019)
The European respiratory journal, 53 (4) - Lowering the P Value Threshold (2019)
JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association, 321 (15), 1532-1533 - Making sense of cost-effectiveness analyses in respiratory medicine: a practical guide for non-health economists (2019)
The European respiratory journal, 53 (3) - Precision health: treating the individual patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (2019)
Medical Journal of Australia, 210 (9), 424-428 - Probabilistic Return-on-Investment Analysis of Single-Family Versus Open-Bay Rooms in Neonatal Intensive Care Units—Synthesis and Evaluation of Early Evidence on Nosocomial Infections, Length of Stay, and Direct Cost of Care (2019)
Journal of Intensive Care Medicine, 34 (2), 115-125 - Risk of Incident Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Population-Based Cohort Study (2019)
Arthritis Care and Research, 71 (5), 602-610 - Screening for Latent Tuberculosis Infection in Migrants With CKD: A Cost-effectiveness Analysis (2019)
American Journal of Kidney Diseases, 73 (1), 39-50 - The Acute COPD Exacerbation Prediction Tool (ACCEPT): development and external validation study of a personalised prediction model (2019)
- The projected economic and health burden of uncontrolled asthma in the United States (2019)
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 200 (9), 1102-1112 - Transparency in Decision Modelling: What, Why, Who and How? (2019)
PharmacoEconomics, 37 (11), 1355--1369 - Triple therapy in a single inhaler: a new option for uncontrolled asthma (2019)
The Lancet, 394 (10210), 1690-1692 - Use of biologics during pregnancy and risk of serious infections in the mother and baby: A Canadian population-based cohort study (2019)
BMJ Open, 9 (2) - Vitamin D in the prevention of exacerbations of asthma in preschoolers (DIVA): Protocol for a multicentre randomised placebo-controlled triple-blind trial (2019)
BMJ Open, 9 (12) - Asthma in low-income and middle-income countries: an urgent call to action (2018)
Thorax, 73 (10), 898--899 - Asthma is not associated with the need for surgery in crohn’s disease when controlling for smoking status: A population-based cohort study (2018)
Clinical Epidemiology, 10, 831-840 - Characterizing undiagnosed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2018)
Respiratory Research, 19 (1) - Cost-effectiveness of tiotropium versus omalizumab for uncontrolled allergic asthma in US (2018)
Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation, 16 (1) - Drivers of respiratory symptoms in COPD patients (2018)
Clinical Problems, - Heterogeneity in the respiratory symptoms of patients with mild-to-moderate COPD (2018)
International Journal of COPD, 13, 3983-3995 - Incremental direct medical costs of systemic lupus erythematosus patients in the years preceding diagnosis: A general population-based study (2018)
Lupus, 27 (8), 1247-1258 - Long-term effects of inhaled corticosteroids on bone mineral density in older women with asthma or COPD: a registry-based cohort study (2018)
Archives of Osteoporosis, 13 (1) - Long-Term Trajectories of Mild Asthma in Adulthood and Risk Factors of Progression (2018)
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, 6 (6), 2024-2032.e5 - Patterns of Biologics Utilization and Discontinuation Before and During Pregnancy in Women With Autoimmune Diseases: A Population-Based Cohort Study (2018)
Arthritis Care and Research, 70 (7), 979-986 - Predictors of inappropriate and excessive use of reliever medications in asthma: A 16-year population-based study (2018)
BMC Pulmonary Medicine, 18 (1) - Relative impact characteristic curve: a graphical tool to visualize and quantify the clinical utility and population-level consequences of implementing markers (2018)
Annals of Epidemiology, 28 (10), 717--723.e3 - Risk of preterm delivery and small-for-gestational-age births in women with autoimmune disease using biologics before or during pregnancy: A population-based cohort study (2018)
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 77 (6), 869-874 - The association between previous and future severe exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Updating the literature using robust statistical methodology (2018)
PLoS ONE, 13 (1) - The diagnostic performance of patient symptoms in screening for COPD (2018)
Respiratory Research, 19 (1) - The discriminatory capacity of symptoms to distinguish undiagnosed COPD from non-COPD (2018)
Clinical Problems, - The effect of text messaging on latent tuberculosis treatment adherence: A randomised controlled trial (2018)
European Respiratory Journal, 51 (2) - The Impact of Care Specialty on Survival-Adjusted Medical Costs of COPD Patients After a Hospitalization: a longitudinal analysis (2018)
Journal of General Internal Medicine, 33 (9), 1528-1535 - The projected economic and health burden of sub-optimal asthma control in Canada (2018)
Respiratory Medicine, 138, 7--12 - A Systematic Review of Health Economics Simulation Models of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (2017)
Value in Health, 20 (1), 152-162 - Asthma control and productivity loss in those with work-related asthma: A population-based study (2017)
Journal of Asthma, 54 (5), 537-542 - Asthma Is Associated With Subsequent Development of Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Population-based Case–Control Study (2017)
Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 15 (9), 1405-1412.e3 - Biomarker Development in COPD: Moving From P Values to Products to Impact Patient Care (2017)
Chest, 151 (2), 455-467 - Burden of non-adherence to latent tuberculosis infection drug therapy and the potential cost-effectiveness of adherence interventions in Canada: A simulation study (2017)
BMJ Open, 7 (9) - Concurrent physician-diagnosed asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A population study of prevalence, incidence and mortality (2017)
PLoS ONE, 12 (3) - Cost-effectiveness of post-landing latent tuberculosis infection control strategies in new migrants to Canada (2017)
PLoS ONE, 12 (10) - Do community demographics, environmental characteristics and access to care affect risks of developing ACOS and mortality in people with asthma? (2017)
European Respiratory Journal, 50 (3) - Excess economic burden of comorbidities in COPD: a 15-year population-based study (2017)
The European respiratory journal, 50 (1) - Has Asthma Medication Use Caught Up With the Evidence?: A 12-Year Population-Based Study of Trends (2017)
Chest, 151 (3), 612-618 - Improving precision in the prediction of asthma exacerbations (2017)
The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 5 (7), 539-540 - Stability of Asthma Symptom Control in a Longitudinal Study of Mild-Moderate Asthmatics (2017)
The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, - Ten-year trends in direct costs of asthma: a population-based study (2017)
Allergy: European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 72 (2), 291-299 - The impact of a history of asthma on long-term outcomes of people with newly diagnosed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A population study (2017)
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 139 (3), 835-843 - The impact of inappropriate use of short acting beta agonists in asthma (2017)
Respiratory Medicine, 131, 135-140 - The Impact of Statin Drug Use on All-Cause Mortality in Patients With COPD: A Population-Based Cohort Study (2017)
Chest, 152 (3), 486-493 - The projected epidemic of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease hospitalizations over the next 15 years a population-based perspective (2017)
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 195 (3), 287-291 - Author response to commentary on article "Intensive care unit-acquired infections: It is not only about the number of patients per room" (2016)
Journal of Critical Care, 34, 124 - Cost-effectiveness of bronchial thermoplasty, omalizumab, and standard therapy for moderate-to-severe allergic asthma (2016)
PLoS ONE, 11 (1) - Do cost savings from reductions in nosocomial infections justify additional costs of single-bed rooms in intensive care units? A simulation case study (2016)
Journal of Critical Care, 31 (1), 194-200 - Excess medical costs in patients with asthma and the role of comorbidity (2016)
European Respiratory Journal, 48 (6), 1584-1592 - Findings on thoracic computed tomography scans and respiratory outcomes in persons with and without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A population-based cohort study (2016)
PLoS ONE, 11 (11) - History of asthma in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease a comparative study of economic burden (2016)
Annals of the American Thoracic Society, 13 (2), 188-196 - Individualized prediction of lung-function decline in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (2016)
CMAJ, 188 (14), 1004-1011 - Influences of Socioeconomic Status on Costs of Asthma under Universal Health Coverage (2016)
Medical Care, 54 (8), 789-795 - Less chaos in the prognosis of asthma-chronic obstructive lung disease overlap (2016)
The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 4 (6), 421-422 - Level of Asthma Controller Therapy Before Admission to the Hospital (2016)
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, 4 (5), 877-883 - Progression from asthma to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is air pollution a risk factor? (2016)
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 194 (4), 429-438 - Reply (2016)
Allergy: European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 71 (6), 908-909 - Saving in medical costs by achieving guideline-based asthma symptom control: A population-based study (2016)
Allergy: European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 71 (3), 371-377 - The Association between Rate and Severity of Exacerbations in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: An Application of a Joint Frailty-Logistic Model (2016)
American Journal of Epidemiology, 184 (9), 681-689 - The Canadian Registry for Pulmonary Fibrosis: Design and Rationale of a National Pulmonary Fibrosis Registry (2016)
Canadian Respiratory Journal, 2016 - The COPD Assessment Test: Can It Discriminate Across COPD Subpopulations? (2016)
Chest, 150 (5), 1069-1079 - The global economic burden of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (2016)
International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 20 (1), 11-23 - The impact of comorbidities on productivity loss in asthma patients (2016)
Respiratory Research, 17 (1) - The natural history of severe asthma and influences of early risk factors: a population-based cohort study (2016)
Thorax, - Airway diseases and inflammatory bowel diseases: Is it something in the air (pollution)? (2015)
European Respiratory Journal, 46 (1), 287-288 - Characteristics of COPD in never-smokers and ever-smokers in the general population: results from the CanCOLD study (2015)
Thorax, - COPD: Undefeated ! (2015)
Chest, 147 (4), 868-869 - Exploring the Potential Cost-Effectiveness of Patient Decision Aids for Use in Adults with Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Case Study (2015)
Medical Decision Making, 35 (5), 671-682 - Interaction effect of psychological distress and asthma control on productivity loss? (2015)
European Respiratory Journal, 45 (6), 1557-1565 - One-year outcomes of inhaled controller therapies added to systemic corticosteroids after asthma-related hospital discharge (2015)
Respiratory Medicine, 109 (3), 320--328 - Quality of Life and Asthma Symptom Control: Room for Improvement in Care and Measurement (2015)
Value in Health, 18 (8), 1043--1049 - Risk of cardiovascular comorbidity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2015)
The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 3 (8), 631-639 - Ten-year trends in direct costs of COPD: A population-based study (2015)
Chest, 148 (3), 640-646 - The added effect of comorbidity on health-related quality of life in patients with asthma (2015)
Quality of Life Research, 24 (10), 2507-2517 - Dispensation of long-acting β agonists with or without inhaled corticosteroids, and risk of asthmarelated hospitalisation: A population-based study (2014)
Thorax, 69 (4), 328-334 - Economic and health effect of full adherence to controller therapy in adults with uncontrolled asthma: A simulation study (2014)
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 134 (4), 908-915.e3 - Empowering pharmacists in asthma management through interactive SMS (EmPhAsIS): Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial (2014)
Trials, 15 (1) - Exacerbations in non-COPD patients: truth or myth—authors’ response (2014)
Thorax, 69 (11), 1050--1051 - Heterogeneity's ruses: The neglected role of between-individual variability in longitudinal studies of COPD exacerbations (2014)
Thorax, 69 (11), 1043-1044 - Incorporating external evidence in trial-based cost-effectiveness analyses: The use of resampling methods (2014)
Trials, 15 (1) - Network vs. Pairwise Meta-Analyses: A Case Study of the Impact of an Evidence-Synthesis Paradigm on Value of Information Outcomes (2014)
PharmacoEconomics, 32 (10), 995-1004 - The effect of weekly text-message communication on treatment completion among patients with latent tuberculosis infection: Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial (WelTel LTBI) (2014)
BMJ Open, 4 (4) - The impact of incorporating Bayesian network meta-analysis in cost-effectiveness analysis - a case study of pharmacotherapies for moderate to severe COPD (2014)
Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation, 12 (1) - The importance of measuring asthma control in emerging economies (2014)
International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 18 (3), 254 - The preventable burden of productivity loss due to suboptimal asthma control: A population -based study (2014)
Chest, 145 (4), 787-793 - A quantitative benefit-risk analysis of isoniazid for treatment of latent tuberculosis infection using incremental benefit framework (2013)
Value in Health, 16 (1), 66-75 - Associations of ambient air pollution with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease hospitalization and mortality (2013)
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 187 (7), 721-727 - Comparative outcomes of leukotriene receptor antagonists and long-acting b-agonists as add-on therapy in asthmatic patients: A population-based study (2013)
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 132 (1), 63-69 - Complementary and alternative asthma treatments and their association with asthma control: A population-based study (2013)
BMJ Open, 3 (9) - Correction: Trends in asthma-related direct medical costs from 2002 to 2007 in British Columbia, Canada: A population based-cohort study (PLoS ONE 7, 12 (e50949) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050949) (2013)
PLoS ONE, 8 (6) - Costs and health outcomes associated with primary vs secondary care after an asthma-related hospitalization: A population-based study (2013)
Chest, 144 (2), 428-435 - Need for speed: An efficient algorithm for calculation of single-parameter expected value of partial perfect information (2013)
Value in Health, 16 (2), 438-448 - Post-hospital syndrome in adults with asthma: A case-crossover study (2013)
Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology, 9 (1) - The Humanistic And Economic Impact Of Following Evidence-Based Asthma Controller Therapy: A Simulation Study (2013)
Value in Health, 16 (3), A235 - Two-level resampling as a novel method for the calculation of the expected value of sample information in economic trials (2013)
Health Economics (United Kingdom), 22 (7), 877-882 - Asthma Control In A Random Sample Of Canadian Asthma Patients (2012)
C106. DETERMINANTS OF CONTROL AND SEVERITY OF ASTHMA AND COPD, - Economic and humanistic burden of external genital warts (2012)
PharmacoEconomics, 30 (1), 1-16 - Future Impact of Various Interventions on the Burden of COPD in Canada: A Dynamic Population Model (2012)
PLoS ONE, 7 (10) - Is surgical fixation for stress-positive unstable ankle fractures cost effective? results of a multicenter randomized control trial (2012)
Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma, 26 (11), 652-658 - Response to 'Marginal costs of hospital-acquired conditions: Information for priority-setting for patient safety programmes and research', Jackson et al., Journal of Health Services Research & Policy 2011;16:141-6 (2012)
Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, 17 (2), 127 - Risk of incident cardiovascular events in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A meta-analysis of observational studies (2012)
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 71 (9), 1524-1529 - Safety Of Long-Acting Beta Agonists (LABA) With Or Without Inhaled Corticosteroids In Asthma (2012)
A110. EMERGING INSIGHTS INTO OBSTRUCTIVE LUNG DISEASE: LATE BREAKING ABSTRACTS, - The "Lost NNT" can be used to represent uncertainty surrounding number needed to treat (2012)
Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 65 (8), 863-868 - Trends in Asthma-Related Direct Medical Costs from 2002 to 2007 in British Columbia, Canada: A Population Based-Cohort Study (2012)
PLoS ONE, 7 (12) - Use Of Complementary And Alternative Therapies In Patients With Asthma: Preliminary Results From A Prospective Study (2012)
B33. ASTHMA THERAPY: NOVEL APPROACHES, - Low-molecular-weight heparin versus unfractionated heparin for prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism in medicine patients-A pharmacoeconomic analysis (2011)
Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis, 17 (5), 454-465 - Secular decreases in fracture rates 1986-2006 for Manitoba, Canada: A population-based analysis (2011)
Osteoporosis International, 22 (7), 2137-2143 - A quantitative evaluation of the regulatory assessment of the benefits and risks of rofecoxib relative to naproxen: An application of the incremental net-benefit framework (2010)
Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, 19 (11), 1172-1180 - A statistical method was used for the meta-analysis of tests for latent TB in the absence of a gold standard, combining random-effect and latent-class methods to estimate test accuracy (2010)
Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 63 (3), 257-269 - An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure: A cost-effectiveness analysis of incidentally detected aneurysms in functional MRI research (2010)
Value in Health, 13 (6), 761-769 - Bronchodilators are central to the management of stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the elderly (2010)
Drugs and Therapy Perspectives, 26 (2), 10-14 - Direct health care costs associated with asthma in British Columbia,Les coûts directs liés aux soins de santé associés á l'asthme en Colombie-Britannique (2010)
Canadian Respiratory Journal, 17 (2), 74-80 - Effects of a mobile phone short message service on antiretroviral treatment adherence in Kenya (WelTel Kenya1): A randomised trial (2010)
The Lancet, 376 (9755), 1838-1845 - Acetaminophen use and the risk of asthma in children and adults: A systematic review and metaanalysis (2009)
Chest, 136 (5), 1316-1323 - Cost-effectiveness of oral appliances in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea - Hypopnoea (2009)
Sleep and Breathing, 13 (3), 241-252 - Pediatric thyroid fine-needle aspiration cytology: a meta-analysis (2009)
Journal of Pediatric Surgery, 44 (11), 2184-2191 - Treatment outcomes of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2009)
PLoS ONE, 4 (9) - A cost-effectiveness analysis of propofol versus midazolam for procedural sedation in the Emergency Department (2008)
Academic Emergency Medicine, 15 (1), 32-39 - A cost-effectiveness analysis of propofol versus midazolam for procedural sedation in the emergency department (Academic Emergency Medicine (2008) 15, (32-39 DOI: 10.1111/j.1553-2712.2007.00023.X) (2008)
Academic Emergency Medicine, 15 (3), 304 - Cost effectiveness of therapy with combinations of long acting bronchodilators and inhaled steroids for treatment of COPD (2008)
Thorax, 63 (11), 962-967 - Cost-effectiveness of a new interferon-based blood assay, QuantiFERON®-TB Gold, in screening tuberculosis contacts (2008)
International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 12 (12), 1414-1424 - Cost-effectiveness of LTBI treatment for TB contacts in British Columbia (2008)
Value in Health, 11 (5), 842-852 - Heteroscedastic regression analysis of factors affecting BMD monitoring (2008)
Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 23 (11), 1842-1849 - Heteroscedastic Regression Analysis of Factors Affecting Bone Mineral Density Precision and Monitoring (2008)
Journal of Clinical Densitometry, 11 (3), 453 - Inhaled corticosteroids and the risk of fractures in older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2008)
Drug Safety, 31 (5), 409-414 - Interpretation of results of the cost-effectiveness analysis reported by Pellissier et al. on October 2007. (2008)
Vaccine, 26 (41) - Letter to the Editor (2008)
Vaccine, 26 (41), 5244 - Optimal decision criterion for detecting change in bone mineral density during serial monitoring: A Bayesian approach (2008)
Osteoporosis International, 19 (11), 1589-1596 - Reliability studies of diagnostic tests are not using enough observers for robust estimation of interobserver agreement: a simulation study (2008)
Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 61 (7), 722-727 - Risk of cardiovascular mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A meta-analysis of observational studies (2008)
Arthritis Care and Research, 59 (12), 1690-1697 - Safety and clinical effectiveness of midazolam versus propofol for procedural sedation in the emergency department: A systematic review (2008)
Academic Emergency Medicine, 15 (1), 1-8 - Technical note: Acceptability curves could be misleading when correlated strategies are compared (2008)
Medical Decision Making, 28 (3), 306-307 - A New Approach for Quantifying Change and Test Precision in Bone Densitometry (2007)
Journal of Clinical Densitometry, 10 (4), 365-369 - Sample size requirements for bone density precision assessments and effect on patient categorization: A Monte Carlo simulation study (2007)
Bone, 41 (4), 679-684 - The value of Bayes theorem in the interpretation of subjective diagnostic findings: What can we learn from agreement studies? (2007)
Medical Decision Making, 27 (6), 735-743 - Concerns about what constitutes clinical evidence [1] (2006)
Canadian Family Physician, 52 (4), 433 - Cost-optimisation of screening for latent tuberculosis in close contacts [6] (2006)
European Respiratory Journal, 28 (6), 1285 - Obesity and hypertension in an Iranian cohort study; Iranian women experience higher rates of obesity and hypertension than American women (2006)
BMC Public Health, 6 - Preferred skeletal site for osteoporosis screening in high-risk populations (2006)
Public Health, 120 (9), 863-871 - Validity and reliability of a new food frequency questionnaire compared to 24h recalls and biochemical measurements: Pilot phase of Golestan cohort study of esophageal cancer (2006)
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 60 (8), 971-977 - Artificial neural networks in prediction of bone density among post-menopausal women (2005)
Journal of Endocrinological Investigation, 28 (5), 425-431 - Clinical course of ulcerative colitis in patients with and without primary sclerosing cholangitis (2005)
Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (Australia), 20 (3), 366-370 - Discordance in diagnosis of osteoporosis using spine and hip bone densitometry (2005)
BMC Endocrine Disorders, 5 - Iran's biomedical sciences' research output in 2003: A bibliographic analysis of Medline and Excerpta Medica databases (2005)
Archives of Iranian Medicine, 8 (3), 180-183 - Outcome predictors in nonoperative management of newly diagnosed subacromial impingement syndrome: A longitudinal study (2005)
MedGenMed Medscape General Medicine, 7 (1) - Frequency of myasthenic crisis in relation to thymectomy in generalized myasthenia gravis: A 17-year experience (2004)
BMC Neurology, 4
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