Drug Utilization Research: Applications, Strategies, Challenges and Way forward

Drug utilization research (DUR), a field of pharmacoepidemiology, comprises the descriptive and analytical methods for the quantification, understanding and evaluation of the process of prescribing, dispensing and consumption of medicines, and for the testing of interventions to enhance the quality of these processes. By means of providing comprehensive prescription data, identifying patterns of drug use, monitoring medication use against standard treatment guidelines and assessing under and over-utilization of medicines, DUR offers an opportunity to increase transparency and accountability around medication utilization. DUR plays a pivotal role in improving the quality of patient care through effective drug management and guiding healthcare providers on rational drug use. The broad nature of the discipline of DUR renders it a fundamental strategy for achieving cost-efficient healthcare through informing policy decisions from health, societal and economic perspectives. With rapid growth of digital health and AI tools, there is a pressing need to advance methodological rigor, standardization, and transparent reporting, enabling robust comparisons across studies and actionable insights for patient care and health-system performance.

This Research Topic aims to explore innovative strategies and applications within the field of DUR. The primary objectives include evaluating the drug use patterns across varied populations, assessing inappropriate medication use, and defining strategies to utilize healthcare resources in the most efficient manner. The research seeks to measure the quality of drug use against explicitly defined standards or criteria. Additionally, the research focuses on developing a framework for decreasing inconsistencies in the research revolving around drug utilization and advocating standardization of DUR methods to facilitate meaningful study comparisons. By addressing these questions, the research aims to intensely identify the approaches, challenges and future directions in the domain of DUR.

To gather further insights in the realm of DUR, we welcome Original Research, Reviews, Mini-reviews, Case Reports, Clinical Trials, and Opinion articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• DUR in special populations, such as infants, elderly, pregnant, or patients with specific health conditions

• Data sources and their impact on DUR

• DUR's role in uncovering areas requiring further investigation on drug efficacy and safety

• Operational and implementation challenges within resource-constrained settings

• Addressing healthcare system shortcomings through DUR

• The influence of artificial intelligence (AI) on DUR and related tools

• Standardizing methodologies to address inconsistencies in DUR

• Clinical applications in areas like antimicrobial stewardship, polypharmacy, and oncology

We also encourage submissions of Original Research, Reviews, Mini-reviews, Case Reports, Clinical Trials, and Opinion articles that further advance the field of Drug Utilization Research beyond these areas.

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
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

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

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• 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: Drug Utilization Research, DUR, Drug Efficacy

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.