Adam Jose Hodgkins1,2, Andrew Bonney1,2, Judy Mullan1,2, Darren John Mayne2,3,4, Stephen Barnett1,2. 1. 1 School of Medicine, Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, Australia. 2. 2 Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, Australia. 3. 3 Public Health, Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, Australia. 4. 4 Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Australia.
Abstract
PURPOSE: An emerging body of research involves observational studies in which survival analysis is applied to data obtained from primary care electronic health records (EHRs). This systematic review of these studies examined the utility of using this approach. METHOD: An electronic literature search of the Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Cochrane databases was conducted. Search terms and exclusion criteria were chosen to select studies where survival analysis was applied to the data extracted wholly from EHRs used in primary care medical practice. RESULTS: A total of 46 studies that met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review were examined. All were published within the past decade (2005-2014) with a majority ( n = 26, 57%) being published between 2012 and 2014. Even though citation rates varied from nil to 628, over half ( n = 27, 59%) of the studies were cited 10 times or more. The median number of subjects was 18,042 with five studies including over 1,000,000 patients. Of the included studies, 35 (76%) were published in specialty journals and 11 (24%) in general medical journals. The many conditions studied largely corresponded well with conditions important to general practice. CONCLUSION: Survival analysis applied to primary care electronic medical data is a research approach that has been frequently used in recent times. The utility of this approach was demonstrated by the ability to produce research with large numbers of subjects, across a wide range of conditions and with the potential of a high impact. Importantly, primary care data were thus available to inform primary care practice.
PURPOSE: An emerging body of research involves observational studies in which survival analysis is applied to data obtained from primary care electronic health records (EHRs). This systematic review of these studies examined the utility of using this approach. METHOD: An electronic literature search of the Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Cochrane databases was conducted. Search terms and exclusion criteria were chosen to select studies where survival analysis was applied to the data extracted wholly from EHRs used in primary care medical practice. RESULTS: A total of 46 studies that met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review were examined. All were published within the past decade (2005-2014) with a majority ( n = 26, 57%) being published between 2012 and 2014. Even though citation rates varied from nil to 628, over half ( n = 27, 59%) of the studies were cited 10 times or more. The median number of subjects was 18,042 with five studies including over 1,000,000 patients. Of the included studies, 35 (76%) were published in specialty journals and 11 (24%) in general medical journals. The many conditions studied largely corresponded well with conditions important to general practice. CONCLUSION: Survival analysis applied to primary care electronic medical data is a research approach that has been frequently used in recent times. The utility of this approach was demonstrated by the ability to produce research with large numbers of subjects, across a wide range of conditions and with the potential of a high impact. Importantly, primary care data were thus available to inform primary care practice.
Entities:
Keywords:
family; general practitioners; health information management; physicians; primary care; review literature as topic “primary health care; “electronic health records; ” general practice; ” survival analysis