How an electronic health record became a real-world research resource.

Comparison between London’s Whole Systems Integrated Care database and the Clinical Practice Research Datalink

BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making
2020

Background In the UK, several initiatives have resulted in the creation of local data warehouses of electronic patient records. Originally developed for commissioning and direct patient care, they are potentially useful for research, but little is known about them outside their home area. We describe one such local warehouse, the Whole Systems Integrated Care (WSIC) database in NW London, and its potential for research as the “Discover” platform. We compare Discover with the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), a popular UK research database also based on linked primary care records.

Methods We describe the key features of the Discover database, including scope, architecture and governance; descriptive analyses compare the population demographics and chronic disease prevalence with those in CPRD.

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