Maurizio Sessa

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Older adults are the main consumers of drugs but are rarely included in pivotal randomized clinical trials. Hence, post-marketing surveillance is a pivotal activity to better characterize the safety and effectiveness of medications in older patients.

I am currently coordinating a team integrating multidisciplinary expertise from Pharmacoepidemiology, Pharmacovigilance, and Data science to catalyze the identification of subgroups of older patients at higher risk of adverse drug reactions or not sufficiently benefitting from pharmacological treatments using post-marketing data sources (e.g., administrative and spontaneous reporting databases). The team has a strong translational perspective as its final goal is to promote the integration of discoveries into patient care.

The team has access to the biggest cohort of older individuals in Denmark covering the entire Danish population aged ≥ 65 for which they have socio-demographic information, hospital- and ambulatory access to Danish hospitals, pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments, laboratory results (i.e., biochemical, genetic, and immunological), surgery, and procedures.

Primary fields of research

Pharmacovigilance and Pharmacoepidemiology

Current research

Research projects currently under investigation include:

• Identification and risk minimization of potentially inappropriate prescriptions in older patients by using Danish administrative registers;
• Machine learning methods for automatized covariate selections to outperform the high-dimensional propensity score algorithm in Danish administrative registers;
• Development of new algorithms for assessing the duration of treatment episodes in Danish administrative data.

Possible conflicts of interest

My postdoc was supported by a grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation to the University of Copenhagen (NNF15SA0018404).

I received research grants or travel stipends from:

- Helsefonden (20-B-0059);

- Lundbeckfonden (R315-2019-312);

- NordForsk (105670).

Fields of interest

Pharmacovigilance

Pharmacoepidemiology

Clinical epidemiology

Selected publications

1. Published

   Predictors of quetiapine extended release formulation Add-On in older patients exposed to antidepressant drugs: A Danish Register-Based cohort study

   Hashimi, H., Andersen, Morten & Sessa, Maurizio, 2020, In: International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. 35, 10, p. 1156-1162

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

2. Published

   The risk of fractures, acute myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation and ventricular arrhythmia in geriatric patients exposed to promethazine

   Sessa, Maurizio, Mascolo, A., Dalhoff, Kim & Andersen, Morten, 2020, In: Expert Opinion on Drug Safety. 19, 3, p. 349-357

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

3. Published

   Artificial Intelligence in Pharmacoepidemiology: A Systematic Review. Part 1—Overview of Knowledge Discovery Techniques in Artificial Intelligence

   Sessa, Maurizio, Khan, A. R., Liang, D., Andersen, Morten & Kulahci, M., 2020, In: Frontiers in Pharmacology. 11, 18 p., 1028.

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Review › Research › peer-review

4. Published

   Metoprolol versus Carvedilol in Patients with Heart Failure, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Diabetes Mellitus, and Renal Failure

   Sessa, Maurizio, Rasmussen, D. B., Jensen, M. T., Kragholm, K., Torp-pedersen, C. & Andersen, Morten, 1 Jan 2020, In: The American Journal of Cardiology. 125, 7, p. 1069-1076

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

5. Published

   Utilizing drug-target-event relationships to unveil safety patterns in pharmacovigilance

   Hauser, Alexander Sebastian, Kooistra, Albert J., Sverrisdóttir, E. & Sessa, Maurizio, 2020, In: Expert Opinion on Drug Safety. 19, p. 961-968

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review