title: Reusing electronic patient data for dental clinical research: a review of current status.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The reuse of electronic patient data collected during clinical care has received increased attention as a way to increase our evidence base. The purpose of this paper was to review studies reusing electronic patient data for dental research.
  
  
  METHODS
  1527 citations obtained by searching MEDLINE and Embase databases, hand-searching seven dental and informatics journals, and snowball sampling.
  
  
  METHODS
  We included studies reusing electronic patient data for research on dental and craniofacial topics, alone or in combination with medical conditions, medications and outcomes. Studies using administrative or research databases and systematic reviews were excluded. Three reviewers extracted data independently and performed analysis jointly
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 60 studies reviewed covered epidemiological (32 studies), outcomes (16), health services research (10) and other (2) topics; were primarily retrospective (58 studies); varied significantly in sample size (9-153,619 patients) and follow-up period (1-12 years); often drew on other data sources in addition to electronic ones (25); but rarely tapped electronic dental record (EDR) data in private practices (3). Type of research was not associated with data sources used, but research topics/questions were. The most commonly reported advantages of reusing electronic data were being able to study large samples and saving time, while data quality and the inability to capture study-specific data were identified as major limitations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Dental research reusing electronic patient data is nascent but accelerating. Future EDR design should focus on enhancing data quality, begin to integrate research data collection and implement interoperability with electronic medical records to facilitate oral-systemic investigations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Measuring and improving the quality of dental care requires that we begin to reuse electronic patient data collected in practice for clinical research. Practice data can potentially serve as a useful complement to data collected in traditional research studies.
authors.affiliation: Center for Dental Informatics, Department of Dental Public Health, University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, United States. Electronic address: echoosu@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Kaihong
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Abromitis
authors.forename: Titus L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Schleyer
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D003792:Dental Records; D018865:Dental Research; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D055094:Evidence-Based Dentistry; D006801:Humans
keywords: AO; CHD; Clinical research; DMF; Dental informatics; Dental records; EDR; EHR; EMR; Electronic health records; HMO; Medical records systems, computerized; NDPBRN; NIDCR; National Dental Practice-based Research Network; National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research; ONJ; OSA; PBRN; Review; VA; Veterans Affairs; atypical odontalgia; coronary heart disease; decayed missing and filled teeth; electronic dental records; electronic health records; electronic medical records; health maintenance organization; obstructive sleep apnea; osteonecrosis of the jaw; practice-based research network