Incorporation of clinical information from primary and hospital care in the IMPACT cohort: IMPACT-IC project

The IMPACT cohort (https://cohorte-impact.es/) is a research infrastructure developed by the CIBER of the ISCIII and the health services of the autonomous communities (CCCA), to facilitate the practice of precision medicine and public health. Information is obtained through questionnaires, an extensive physical examination and biological samples (blood, urine and nails) from representative people of the Spanish population aged 16 to 79 years. Intentionally, data collection has not included information from electronic primary care and hospital medical records until this project, as this can be done in a semi-automated and standardized way from the health information systems (SIS) in Spain, which have a level of digitization among the highest in the world.

For this reason, the IMPACT-IC project, which is carried out by the researchers who have been developing the IMPACT cohort since its origins, will develop a Common Data Model to incorporate the clinical information of primary care and hospital of its participants into the IMPACT cohort. A system with high validity of the information, speed in obtaining data and low cost is proposed, which guarantees its sustainability. To this end, the experience acquired in other research-oriented cohorts in Spain is used, especially SIDIAP, IVD, or BIFAP (Database for Pharmacoepidemiological Research in the Public Sphere); the latter is managed by the AEMPS, and 12 Autonomous Communities currently participate in it. The methods of BIFAP and the other cohorts are being adapted to the characteristics of the IMPACT cohort and to the SIS of the Autonomous Communities and INGESA. At the end of the project, mechanisms will also have been established to update the data every 12 months to contribute to the monitoring of the cohort, and standardized and periodic analyses of this information can be carried out.