title: Secondary analysis of large databases for hepatology research.
abstract: Secondary analysis of large datasets involves the utilization of existing data that has typically been collected for other purposes to advance scientific knowledge. This is an established methodology applied in health services research with the unique advantage of efficiently identifying relationships between predictor and outcome variables but which has been underutilized for hepatology research. Our review of 1431 abstracts published in the 2013 European Association for the Study of Liver (EASL) abstract book showed that less than 0.5% of published abstracts utilized secondary analysis of large database methodologies. This review paper describes existing large datasets that can be exploited for secondary analyses in liver disease research. It also suggests potential questions that could be addressed using these data warehouses and highlights the strengths and limitations of each dataset as described by authors that have previously used them. The overall goal is to bring these datasets to the attention of readers and ultimately encourage the consideration of secondary analysis of large database methodologies for the advancement of hepatology.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, United States. Electronic address: philokafor@post.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Philip N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Okafor
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Good Shepard Medical Center, Longview, TX 75601, United States.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chiejina
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Department of Medicine, University of Verona, Piazzale L.A. Scuro, 10, 37134 Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicolo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: de Pretis
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, United States; Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, United States.
authors.forename: Jayant A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Talwalkar
mesh_terms: D019992:Databases as Topic; D005762:Gastroenterology; D058006:General Practice; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans
keywords: Health care delivery research; Health services research; Liver diseases; Outcomes research