Abstract
BackgroundThe Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) created a new national network infrastructure to enable large-scale observational comparative effectiveness research across diverse clinical care settings. As part of testing the feasibility of this effort, each clinical data research network (CDRN) was required to construct cohorts of patients, including one of patients with overweight and obesity.ObjectiveThe aim of this paper is to report on the development of the Patient Outcomes Research to Advance Learning (PORTAL) overweight and obese cohort, which includes patients from 10 health plans located across the United States.MethodsInformation was gathered from each plan’s electronic health records (EHR). Eligibility included 18 years of age or older, a valid height and weight in 2012 or 2013, and body mass index (BMI) greater than 22.9 kg/m2. Pre-diabetes and diabetes status was defined using the American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria, using lab values of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) or fasting glucose available in the EHR. Hypertension was identified from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) diagnosis codes. Individuals were classified into BMI categories: healthy weight (23.0-24.9 kg/m2), overweight (25.0-29.9 kg/m2), obese class 1 (30.0-34.9 kg/m2), obese class 2 (35.0-39.9 kg/m2), obese class 3 (40.0-49.0 kg/m2), and obese class 4 (>50.0 kg/m2).ResultsA cohort of 5,293,458 non-pregnant adults was created. Weight status was 20.39% (1,079,289/5,293,458) healthy weight, 40.40% (2,138,520/5,293,458) overweight, 22.78% (1,205,866/5,293,458) obese class 1, 9.86% (521,872/5,293,458) obese class 2, 5.59% (295,786/5,293,458) obese class 3, and 0.98% (52,125/5,293,458) obese class 4. Race/ethnicity was 49.02% (2,594,776/5,293,458) non-Hispanic white, 22.89% (1,211,677/5,293,458) Hispanic, 10.40% (550,608/5,293,458) Asian, 10.83% (573,506/5,293,458) black, and 6.59% (348,830/5,293,458) other. About 34.33% (1,817,438/5,293,458) met the definition of hypertension, 20.49% (1,660,940/5,293,458) of individuals met the criteria for pre-diabetes, and 14.98% (793,069/5,293,458) met criteria for diabetes. Prevalence of pre-diabetes and diabetes varied across health plans to a greater extent than expected based on hypertension prevalence and BMI status variability.ConclusionsThis large, race, ethnic, and geographically diverse cohort will be useful for future studies of rare exposures or outcomes and differences in health care practices.
Highlights
In 2014, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) funded 11 Clinical Data Research Networks (CDRN) and 18 Patient-Powered Research Networks to develop a National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet), with the purpose of building a common infrastructure across the clinical data research network (CDRN) to enable highly representative future clinical outcomes research
About 34.33% (1,817,438/5,293,458) met the definition of hypertension, 20.49% (1,660,940/5,293,458) of individuals met the criteria for pre-diabetes, and 14.98% (793,069/5,293,458) met criteria for diabetes
Prevalence of pre-diabetes and diabetes varied across health plans to a greater extent than expected based on hypertension prevalence and body mass index (BMI) status variability
Summary
The goal of PCORnet is to "transform clinical research by engaging patients, care providers, and health systems in collaborative partnerships to improve healthcare and advance medical knowledge." One of the CDRNs is the Patient Outcomes Research to Advance Learning (PORTAL) network. PORTAL combines four health care delivery systems that have about 11 million members enrolled across nine states (CA, CO, GA, HI, MD, MN, OR, VA, WA) and the District of Columbia, reaching into most regions in the United States and offering a diverse patient population. The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) created a new national network infrastructure to enable large-scale observational comparative effectiveness research across diverse clinical care settings. As part of testing the feasibility of this effort, each clinical data research network (CDRN) was required to construct cohorts of patients, including one of patients with overweight and obesity
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