Event Description
Sonja Swanson, PhD candidate in epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health
Lecture: Studies of Psychotropic Medication Safety: Inferring Causality While Quantifying Potential Biases
Swanson is currently a PhD candidate in epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. Her current research focuses on causal inference methodology, with particular interest in the study of causes, consequences, and public health importance of psychiatric disorders.
Observational studies are increasingly used to study the comparative safety and effectiveness of psychotropic medications. Inferring causality in observational studies, however, relies on making strong, untestable assumptions: when these assumptions do not hold, conclusions may be suspect. In Swanson’s presentation, she will demonstrate ways to quantify the range of plausible bias when the assumptions may not hold perfectly, with particular attention to how better quantification of these potential biases can assist informed clinical decision making and direct future research efforts. Examples will include studies of the relationship between antidepressant dose and risk of deliberate self harm in youth, and the relationship between antipsychotic class and risk of death in the elderly.
This event is free and open to the Drexel community. |
