The CVMM Theme's funding has enabled Dr de Olivera Costa and Dr Milder to identify regions in New South Wales with low uptake of cardiometabolic medicines, so strategies can be put in place to try to increase doctors’ prescribing of these medicines.
Dr Juliana de Olivera Costa, Research Fellow, Medicines Intelligence Research Program, School of Population Health, UNSW
Dr Tamara Milder, PhD student, Medicines Intelligence Research Program, School of Population Health, UNSW and Garvan Institute of Medical Research; Endocrinologist, St Vincent’s Clinic
Juliana: I am a pharmacist by training with a background in public health and health technology assessment. My research investigates population-level patterns of medicine use, including estimating the uptake of therapies, treatment adherence, prescriber behaviour, and inappropriate use of medicines – all using data collected in routine clinical care.
Tamara: I am an endocrinologist finishing my PhD in the quality use of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors. SGLT2 inhibitors are critically important medicines for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease. I have been working closely with pharmacoepidemiologists in the Medicines Intelligence Research Program on projects related to the use of cardiometabolic medicines in specific populations.
Our project explored use of medicines for type 2 diabetes which have heart and kidney benefits, namely SGLT2 inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, in different regions of New South Wales. A particularly novel finding was the need to visually explore differences across regions, as there was quite variable uptake across regions of similar sizes and socio-economic status. Local policies, such as educational programs of health staff, may potentially be contributing to different regional uptake. By identifying regions with low uptake of these cardiometabolic medicines, strategies can be put in place to try to increase doctors’ prescribing of these medicines.
Without the CVMM funding we could not have undertaken this project. It was a new cross-collaborative project involving a team of clinicians and pharmacoepidemiologists, which has grown to a program of research. We hope to publish the results of the project in an international journal shortly, and continue to collaborate on new grants and projects.
Juliana: Whilst my newborn baby boy has slept, I have watched Ford v Ferrari, and Einstein and the Bomb.
Tamara: As a mother of two young daughters, I do not have much time to read books or watch tv shows! However, I did enjoy watching the movie One Life relatively recently.