Sascha Dublin, MD, PhD, is a general internist and epidemiologist who studies the health effects of prescription medications and other interventions using real-world health care data. Through her work, she aims to provide better information about the risks and benefits of different treatments so patients and doctors can make well-informed decisions.
Much of Dr. Dublin’s research focuses on the outcomes of medication use or other interventions during pregnancy. These studies take advantage of the rich clinical data available through electronic health records (EHRs). Some of her current work in this area includes:
Dr. Dublin recently led an impactful study with Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute colleagues exploring different methods to screen for diabetes in pregnancy. This work examined how outcomes changed for mothers and babies after Kaiser Permanente Washington made a big shift in their approach to gestational diabetes screening. This project found that a new, more intensive approach to screening did not improve health outcomes, and may have even worsened some. As a result, Kaiser Permanente Washington changed back to the previous, more widely used screening approach.
Beyond pregnancy, Dr. Dublin’s work includes studies of medication use and dementia risk in older adults. For example, her team found that heavy use of some commonly used medications including antihistamines increases dementia risk. They also found that one widely used medication class, proton pump inhibitors, does not increase the risk of dementia—in contrast to some earlier reports—or fractures.
Dr. Dublin has a strong interest in epidemiologic methods, particularly finding ways to better measure important variables. She has led methods workgroups for the FDA’s Sentinel Initiative and has experience using natural language processing and collecting data from patients through mobile phone apps. Dr. Dublin also has interest and expertise in improving the rigor and validity of observational studies by improving how they account for patients’ other illnesses and overall health status.
Dr. Dublin previously held a Paul B. Beeson Career Development Award (K23) from the National Institute on Aging. She sees patients one day a week in primary care at Kaiser Permanente Washington.
Dublin S, Idu A, Avalos LA, Cheetham TC, Easterling TR, Chen L, Holt VL, Nance N, Bider-Canfield Z, Neugebauer RS, Reynolds K, Badon SE, Shortreed SM. Maternal and neonatal outcomes of antihypertensive treatment in pregnancy: a retrospective cohort study. PLoS One. 2022 May 16;17(5):e0268284. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268284. eCollection 2022. PubMed
Acton EK, Hennessy S, Brensinger CM, Bilker WB, Miano TA, Dublin S, Horn JR, Chung S, Wiebe DJ, Willis AW, Leonard CE. Opioid drug-drug-drug interactions and unintentional traumatic injury: screening to detect three-way drug interaction signals. Front Pharmacol. 2022 May 10;13:845485. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.845485. eCollection 2022. PubMed
Pham Nguyen TP, Soprano SE, Hennessy S, Brensinger CM, Bilker WB, Miano TA, Acton EK, Horn JR, Chung SP, Dublin S, Oslin DW, Wiebe DJ, Leonard CE. Population-based signals of benzodiazepine drug interactions associated with unintentional traumatic injury. J Psychiatr Res. 2022 May 1;151:299-303. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.04.033. PubMed
Dawwas GK, Hennessy S, Brensinger CM, Acton EK, Bilker WB, Chung S, Dublin S, Horn JR, Manis MM, Miano TA, Oslin DW, Pham Nguyen TP, Soprano SE, Wiebe DJ, Leonard CE. Signals of muscle relaxant drug interactions associated with unintentional traumatic injury: a population-based screening study. CNS Drugs. 2022 Apr;36(4):389-400. doi: 10.1007/s40263-022-00909-1. Epub 2022 Mar 6. PubMed
Oral contraceptives, hormone therapy not linked to more severe COVID outcomes.
Trial is the first to test an individualized approach to improve dementia risk factors.
In a new study, a tool to help discover undiagnosed dementia performed well in 2 separate health systems.
A study led by Dr. Sascha Dublin finds similar outcomes for 3 hypertension medications, filling an evidence gap.