The article describes the standardisation process carried out to transform the SIDIAP database to the OMOP common data model, as well as the quality control performed to ensure the suitability of the database for research. In addition, the article provides a practical illustration of the use of the SIDIAP-OMOP database in COVID-19–related research, offering a description of the number and characteristics of more than 600,000 people affected by the infection in Catalonia up to June 2022. This description includes cases attended in primary care, as well as cases requiring hospitalisation or admission to intensive care units (ICU), and deaths associated with COVID-19. The article also describes the characteristics of more than 4.5 million people vaccinated against COVID-19.

To date, the implementation of OMOP has provided our researchers with the opportunity to participate in more than 15 publications from international COVID-19 studies, as it facilitates collaboration with entities that have access to other databases already transformed into this standard model. The implementation of this common data model allows us to lead and participate in studies that analyse different databases in a federated manner, sharing only analytical code, without the need to share individual-level data. This approach represents a significant improvement in transparency and reproducibility of research results. Furthermore, it enables the use of standardised analytical tools, which facilitate analyses and can be applied to any database that has implemented this standard. Although this study exemplifies the use of the database for COVID-19 research, the SIDIAP-OMOP database can also be used to address research questions in other fields.

The transformation of SIDIAP to OMOP has been implemented by the SIDIAP team in collaboration with the Real World Epidemiology research group at IDIAP Jordi Gol, led by researcher Talita Duarte Salles, and has been supported and funded by the European Health Data and Evidence Network (EHDEN) and the Government of Catalonia.

Acces to the article: https://www.dovepress.com/transforming-the-information-system-for-research-in-primary-care-sidia-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-CLEP