MI-CRE impact stories and publications
Impact stories
In today’s research landscape, there is an increasing focus on achieving impact and demonstrating returns on investment. This focus has grown particularly important as major funding bodies worldwide view impact as a core component of nearly all research programs. Publishing research in peer-reviewed journals alone is not enough - knowledge translation requires a range of dissemination strategies to increase the reach of our research findings.
Demonstrating impact can often be challenging, as the impact may be significantly 'downstream' from the research project, particularly for epidemiological studies. As part of our capacity-building activities, we have been providing our researchers with training and resources to help build their impact stories, including a special abstract call at the MI-CRE Annual Research Symposium and Policy Forum.
Below we feature an impact story by Dr Laura Gerhardy, the winner of the 2024 MI-CRE Symposium award for best overall presentation.
Prescription retinoid and contraception use in women in Australia: getting the message out.*
Investigators: Gerhardy L, Nassar N, Litchfield M, Kennedy D, Smith A, Gillies MB, Pearson S-A, Zoega H, Shand A.
Background: Oral retinoids are teratogenic, and pregnancy avoidance is an important part of safe prescribing. Highly effective contraception with a failure rate under 1% is recommended. A population-based study was performed using Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme dispensing claims for a sample of 15–44-year-old Australian women between 2013 to 2021. The rate of oral retinoid dispensing doubled over the study period to 28 per 1000 in 2021. Only 25% of oral retinoid dispensings had evidence of concomitant contraceptive use in 2021. The study was published in the Australasian Journal of Dermatology (AJD).
The issue: The AJD study highlighted the need to increase highly effective contraception coverage for women using oral retinoids. There is no clear Australian strategy for pregnancy prevention for women taking oral retinoids and other teratogens.
Our response: We worked to increase awareness of the importance of highly effective contraception. We presented study findings to clinical audiences at conferences for dermatologists and obstetricians. While communication to the general medical community was enabled by preparing online articles published by Australian Doctor, Australian Journal of Pharmacy, and European Medical Journal.
To engage the broader community, we pursued dissemination of our work via various media outlets. We wrote an article for The Conversation, which was widely republished. We also worked with the University of Sydney and New South Wales Ministry of Health media teams who prepared, published and distributed media releases to various media outlets. This resulted in various co-authors conducting interviews, and the publication of newspaper articles in The Western Weekender, the Gold Coast Bulletin, and The Age/ Sydney Morning Herald/Canberra Times. The study was discussed on television, and on radio including ABC Health Report, ABC Darwin, ABC Canberra, ABC Illawarra, ABC Newcastle and 2GB Sydney.
The result: Our multidisciplinary team ensured the dissemination of our work to different sectors in the clinical and consumer community. We tailored our dissemination strategies, publicising our research findings by targeting and presenting our work at meetings, forums and outlets relevant to each group. The main aim was to increase knowledge about the importance of using highly effective contraception when taking oral retinoids or other teratogenic medications. The next steps are to formulate a national strategy for improving contraception coverage, which will likely involve roundtable discussions, education, and improvements in contraception access pathways.
*The full abstract is available here
Publications
Below are a selection of key papers published by MI-CRE researchers. A full list of papers and other publications by MI-CRE Investigators published between 2021 and 2024 on the quality use of medicines and medicines safety is available to view here.
The Medicines Intelligence Data Platform: A Population-Based Data Resource From New South Wales, Australia
Optimising the availability and use of real world data and real world evidence to support health technology assessment in Australia
Medicine utilization studies in Australian individual-level dispensing data: a blinded, multi-center replicated analysis
Effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination against COVID-19 specific and all-cause mortality in older Australians: a population based study
Geographic variation in sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist use in people with type 2 diabetes in New South Wales, Australia
Generating real-world evidence on the quality use, benefits and safety of medicines in Australia: history, challenges and a roadmap for the future
The Medicines Intelligence Centre of Research Excellence: co-creating real-world evidence to support the evidentiary needs of Australian regulators and payers
Parity in female authorship in Australian pharmacoepidemiology research leveraging medicine dispensing data: How well are we doing?
