Pharmacoepidemiology in infectious diseases

Pharmacoepidemiology focuses on analyzing drug utilization, safety, and effectiveness in different populations. In the context of infectious diseases, this field plays a critical role in evaluating new therapies, vaccines, and antimicrobial agents under real-world conditions, addressing the gaps left by controlled clinical trials and epidemiological studies. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) demonstrate efficacy under ideal conditions that do not reflect real-world effectiveness. Pharmacoepidemiological studies assess how treatments are performed in different settings due to heterogeneous populations, comorbidities, or differences in the standard of care. Pharmacoepidemiology of infectious diseases tracks antimicrobial use patterns and resistance trends. Trends in antimicrobial use identify overprescription of antibiotics, enabling targeted interventions to preserve old and new antibiotics. Finally, it is known that marginalized populations are at a higher risk of being affected by infectious diseases. Interventions regarding access to treatments and vaccines are necessary to reveal differences in prescription and equity-focused public health strategies.



Pharmacoepidemiology provides indispensable insights into the real-world use and impact of infectious disease interventions, thereby ensuring safer, more effective, and equitable healthcare strategies. Its integration with emerging technologies and global data networks will further enhance its preparedness for future health crises. Thus, new studies that use big data, AI, meta-analyses, cohorts, and even reviews are necessary to address this problem.



-Real-world effectiveness of therapies

-Antimicrobial stewardship and resistance

-Vaccine pharmacovigilance and impact

-Addresing health disparities and global health equity

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• ... View all formats

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Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: antibiotics, resistance, antimicrobials, stewardship program, epidemiology

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.