Trends in Pharmacogenomic Epidemiology: 2001–2007

Background: Pharmacogenomic epidemiology (PGxE) assesses the range of responses to pharmacologic agents in relation to genetic variation in population groups. We analyzed publication trends to describe the emerging field of PGxE. Methods: We analyzed PGxE literature published from 2001 to 2007 by using the HuGE Navigator, a curated database of abstracts on human genome epidemiology extracted from PubMed. We summarized trends by gene and study design and, for the 4 most cited genes, by associated health outcomes and drugs. Results: In all, 1,855 PGxE articles were indexed from 2001 through 2007, with annual publications increasing more than 15-fold during this period. Observational studies outnumbered clinical trials by a ratio of 10 to 1 (1,660 vs. 178). Just 4 genes together accounted for nearly one-fifth of all publications: ABCB1, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP2D6. For these 4 genes, the most frequently cited therapeutic category was antineoplastic agent, followed by anticoagulant, antiulcer, and antidepressant. Warfarin was the single most frequently cited drug. Conclusions: The field of PGxE is growing rapidly, encompassing a large spectrum of diseases and drugs important in clinical practice. Systematic tracking and synthesis of the published literature in PGxE can help identify promising applications and guide translation research.