The transformation of the SIDIAP Database to a common OMOP model helps research on COVID-19
The article “Transforming the Information System for Research in Primary Care (SIDIAP) in Catalonia to the OMOP Common Data Model and Its Use for COVID-19 Research” has been published in the magazine Clinical Epidemiology and describes the standardization of the SIDIAP primary care database to the common data model Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP).
The article describes the standardization process that has been carried out to transform the SIDIAP database into the common OMOP data model, as well as the quality control carried out to guarantee the suitability of the database for research. Furthermore, the article offers a practical illustration of the use of the SIDIAP-OMOP database in research related to COVID-19, offering a description of the number and characteristics of more than 600,000 people affected by the infection in Catalonia until June 2022. This description includes cases treated in primary care, as well as cases that required hospitalization or admission to intensive care units (ICU), and deaths associated with COVID-19. In addition, the article 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 of international studies on COVID-19, since it facilitates collaboration with entities with access to other databases that already exist. have transformed their data into this standard model. The implementation of this common data model allows us to lead and participate in studies in which different databases are analyzed in a federated manner, exclusively sharing the analytical codes, without the need to share data at the individual level. This approach represents a significant improvement in transparency and the ability to reproduce research results. In addition, it allows the use of standardized analytical tools, which facilitate analysis and can be used in any database that has implemented this standard. Although this study exemplifies the use of the database for research on COVID-19, the SIDIAP-OMOP database can be used to answer research questions in other areas.
The transformation from SIDIAP to OMOP has been implemented by the SIDIAP team in collaboration with the Real World Epidemiology research group of IDIAP Jordi Gol, led by researcher Talita Duarte Salles, and has had the support and funding of the European Health Data and Evidence Network (EHDEN) and the Generalitat of Catalonia.
