scholarly journals Integrating data from multiple Finnish biobanks and national health-care registers for retrospective studies: Practical experiences

2021 ◽  
pp. 140349482110044
Author(s):  
Jaakko Lähteenmäki ◽  
Anna-Leena Vuorinen ◽  
Juha Pajula ◽  
Kari Harno ◽  
Mika Lehto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Data Exchange ◽  
Register Data ◽  
Genotype Data ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Hospital Data ◽  
National Register ◽  
National Register Data ◽  
Health Care Encounters

Aim: This case study aimed to investigate the process of integrating resources of multiple biobanks and health-care registers, especially addressing data permit application, time schedules, co-operation of stakeholders, data exchange and data quality. Methods: We investigated the process in the context of a retrospective study: Pharmacogenomics of antithrombotic drugs (PreMed study). The study involved linking the genotype data of three Finnish biobanks (Auria Biobank, Helsinki Biobank and THL Biobank) with register data on medicine dispensations, health-care encounters and laboratory results. Results: We managed to collect a cohort of 7005 genotyped individuals, thereby achieving the statistical power requirements of the study. The data collection process took 16 months, exceeding our original estimate by seven months. The main delays were caused by the congested data permit approval service to access national register data on health-care encounters. Comparison of hospital data lakes and national registers revealed differences, especially concerning medication data. Genetic variant frequencies were in line with earlier data reported for the European population. The yearly number of international normalised ratio (INR) tests showed stable behaviour over time. Conclusions: A large cohort, consisting of versatile individual-level phenotype and genotype data, can be constructed by integrating data from several biobanks and health data registers in Finland. Co-operation with biobanks is straightforward. However, long time periods need to be reserved when biobank resources are linked with national register data. There is a need for efforts to define general, harmonised co-operation practices and data exchange methods for enabling efficient collection of data from multiple sources.

scholarly journals Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on primary care utilization: evidence from Sweden using national register data

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn Ekman ◽  
Eva Arvidsson ◽  
Hans Thulesius ◽  
Jens Wilkens ◽  
Olof Cronberg
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Register Data ◽  
Care Utilization ◽  
National Register ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Utilization Of Services ◽  
Specific Objective ◽  
National Register Data ◽  
Patient Groups ◽  
Primary Care Utilization

Abstract Objective To analyze changes in primary care utilization as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Swedish national register data from 2019 to 2020 on utilization of services were used to compare overall utilization levels and across types of contacts and patient groups. A specific objective was to assess the extent to which remote types of patient consultations were able to compensate for any observed fall in on-site visits. Data were stratified by sex and age to investigate any demographic pattern. Results Findings show significant reductions in overall utilization of services as the pandemic occurred in the first quarter of 2020. On-site visits fell during the first wave of the pandemic and rebounded thereafter. Patients over 65 years of age appear to have reduced utilization to a larger extent compared with younger groups. Simultaneously, remote contacts increased from around 12% before the pandemic to 17% of the total number of consultations. However, the net effect of changes in service utilization suggests an overall reduction of around 12 percent in the number of primary care consultations as a result of the pandemic. No differences between men and women were observed. Further research will continue to monitor changes in primary care utilization as the pandemic continues.

scholarly journals Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Primary Care Utilization: Evidence From Sweden Using National Register Data

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn Ekman ◽  
Eva Arvidsson ◽  
Hans Thulesius ◽  
Jens Wilkens ◽  
Olof Cronberg
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Register Data ◽  
Care Utilization ◽  
National Register ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Utilization Of Services ◽  
Specific Objective ◽  
National Register Data ◽  
Patient Groups ◽  
Primary Care Utilization

Abstract Objective: To analyze changes in primary care utilization as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Swedish national register data from 2019 and 2020 on utilization of services were used to compare overall utilization levels and across types of contacts and patient groups. A specific objective was to assess the extent to which remote types of patient consultations were able to compensate for any observed fall in on-site visits. Data were stratified by sex and age to investigate any demographic pattern. Results: Findings show significant reductions in overall utilization of services as the pandemic occurred the first quarter of 2020. On-site visits fell during the first wave of the pandemic and rebounded thereafter. Patients over 65 years of age appear to have reduced utilization to a larger extent compared with younger groups. Simultaneously, remote contacts increased from around 12% before the pandemic to 17% of total number of consultations. However, the net effect of changes in service utilization suggests an overall reduction of around 12 percent in the number of primary care consultations as a result of the pandemic. No differences between men and women were observed. Further research will continue to monitor changes in primary care utilization as the pandemic continues.

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