CA5-05: A Visual Method to Rapidly Facilitate Case Identification Among a Medically Complex Cohort

Background/Aims Comparative effectiveness research studies often require researchers to make inference about the relationship between exposure to various treatments over time and health outcomes. In these studies it can be a challenge to isolate the effect of the exposure from other concurrent treatments and health conditions. For example, in the study of the effect of different antipsychotic medications on body weight, concurrent exposures of oral steroids, insulin, pregnancy, and cancer diagnosis can have important confounding effects. The temporal relationships between these exposures may be difficult to assess in large samples; therefore we sought a way to graphically display exposures and outcomes in a single figure to facilitate rapid screening of potential cases.