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.
Shortreed SM, Gray R, Akosile MA, Walker RL, Fuller S, Temposky L, Fortmann SP, Albertson-Junkans L, Floyd JS, Bayliss EA, Harrington LB, Lee MH, Dublin S. Increased COVID-19 infection risk drives racial and ethnic disparities in severe COVID-19 outcomes. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2022 Jan 24. doi: 10.1007/s40615-021-01205-2. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Kluberg SA, Hou L, Dutcher SK, Billings M, Kit B, Toh S, Dublin S, Haynes K, Kline AM, Maiyani M, Pawloski PA, Watson ES, Cocoros NM. Validation of diagnosis codes to identify hospitalized COVID-19 patients in health care claims data. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2022 Apr;31(4):476-480. doi: 10.1002/pds.5401. Epub 2022 Jan 3. PubMed
Palazzo L, Hsu C, Barnes DE, Figueroa Gray M, Greenwood-Hickman MA, Larson E, Dublin S. Patient and caregiver perspectives on a tool to increase recognition of undiagnosed dementia: a qualitative study. BMC Geriatr. 2021 Oct 26;21(1):604. doi: 10.1186/s12877-021-02523-0. PubMed
Pocobelli G, Akosile MA, Hansen RN, Eavey J, Wellman RD, Johnson RL, Carls G, Bron M, Dublin S. Obstructive sleep apnea and risk of motor vehicle accident. Sleep Med. 2021 Jul 17;85:196-203. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2021.07.019. [Epub ahead of print]. 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.