Improving the Quality and Design of Retrospective Clinical Outcome Studies that Utilize Electronic Health Records

Authors

Oliwier Dziadkowiec, HCA Healthcare Mountain MidAmerica and Continental DivisionsFollow
Jeffery Durbin, HCA Healthcare MidAmerica DivisionFollow
Vignesh Jayaraman Muralidharan, HCA Healthcare Mountain DivisionFollow
Megan Novak, HCA Healthcare Continental DivisionFollow
Brendon Cornett, HCA GME Continential DivisionFollow

Keywords

electronic health records (EHRs); retrospective studies; cohort studies; retrospective cohort studies; case-control studies; comparative effectiveness research

Disciplines

Applied Statistics | Biostatistics | Categorical Data Analysis | Multivariate Analysis | Statistical Methodology | Vital and Health Statistics

Abstract

Electronic health records (EHRs) are an excellent source for secondary data analysis. Studies based on EHR-derived data, if designed properly, can answer previously unanswerable clinical research questions. In this paper we will highlight the benefits of large retrospective studies from secondary sources such as EHRs, examine retrospective cohort and case-control study design challenges, as well as methodological and statistical adjustment that can be made to overcome some of the inherent design limitations, in order to increase the generalizability, validity and reliability of the results obtained from these studies.

Recommended Citation

Dziadkowiec, Oliwier; Durbin, Jeffery; Jayaraman Muralidharan, Vignesh; Novak, Megan; and Cornett, Brendon (2020) "Improving the Quality and Design of Retrospective Clinical Outcome Studies that Utilize Electronic Health Records," HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine: Vol. 1: Iss. 3, Article 4.
DOI: 10.36518/2689-0216.1094
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.hcahealthcare.com/hcahealthcarejournal/vol1/iss3/4