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Chang Gung Research Database: A multi-institutional database consisting of original medical records
Ming-Shao Tsai1, Meng-Hung Lin2, Chuan-Pin Lee2
1Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan; Center of Excellence for Chang Gung Research Datalink, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan.
Insights
The Chang Gung Research Database (CGRD) offers high coverage of Taiwan
Area of Science:
- Medical Informatics
- Health Services Research
- Epidemiology
Background:
- The Chang Gung Research Database (CGRD) is a de-identified dataset from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH) in Taiwan.
- CGMH is a large healthcare system with high-quality clinical research potential.
- Previous analyses of the CGRD's research utility and population coverage were lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the characteristics of the Chang Gung Research Database (CGRD).
- To determine the population coverage of the CGRD within Taiwan.
- To assess the CGRD's representativeness compared to national health data.
Main Methods:
- A nationwide cohort study utilizing the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD).
- Inclusion of all patients with outpatient or inpatient records from 1997 to 2010.
- Analysis of demographic, socioeconomic, urbanicity, illness severity, and disease prevalence data.
Main Results:
- The CGRD population differs in sex ratio, age, socioeconomic status, and urbanicity from national data (p < 0.05).
- CGRD exhibits significantly higher comorbidity severity and disease prevalence than NHIRD and other medical centers (p < 0.05).
- Overall CGRD coverage reached 21.2% for outpatients and 12.4% for inpatients, with disease-specific coverage ranging from 14-34%.
Conclusions:
- The CGRD is a valuable multi-institutional research database with substantial population and disease-specific coverage in Taiwan.
- The CGRD population represents a sicker cohort with a higher prevalence of specific diseases compared to national health insurance data.
Background:
The Chang Gung Research Database (CGRD) is a de-identified database derived from original medical records of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH), which comprises seven medical institutes located from the northeast to southern regions of Taiwan. The volume of medical services performed in CGMH is large, and clinical and scientific studies based on the CGRD are reported to be of high quality. However, the CGRD as a useful database for research has not been analyzed before. The objective of the study was to analyze the CGRD with regard to its characteristics and coverage of Taiwan's population.
Methods:
We performed a nationwide cohort study using population-based data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). All patients who had any medical record of outpatient visits or admission between January 1, 1997, and December 31, 2010, were included, and the sex ratio, age distribution, socioeconomic status, urbanicity, severity of illness, prevalence of specific disease, and coverage of the CGRD were analyzed.
Results:
The sex ratio, age distribution, socioeconomic status, and urbanicity of the population of the CGRD are different from those of Taiwan NHIRD and medical centers in Taiwan (all the pairwise p < 0.05). The severity of comorbidities, and prevalence of specific diseases of the population of the CGRD are significantly higher than those of Taiwan NHIRD and medical centers in Taiwan for both outpatient and inpatient samples (all the pairwise p < 0.05). The overall coverage of the CGRD was 21.2% for outpatients and 12.4% for inpatients. The disease-specific coverage of the CGRD was 27-34% for outpatients and 14-21% for inpatients.
Conclusions:
The CGRD is a multi-institutional, original medical record-based research database with high overall and disease-specific coverage of Taiwan. The population of the CGRD has significantly higher severity of comorbidities, and prevalence of specific diseases than those of Taiwan NHIRD and medical centers in Taiwan.
