title: The RECORD reporting guidelines: meeting the methodological and ethical demands of transparency in research using routinely-collected health data.
abstract: Routinely-collected health data (RCD) are now used for a wide range of studies, including observational studies, comparative effectiveness research, diagnostics, studies of adverse effects, and predictive analytics. At the same time, limitations inherent in using data collected without specific a priori research questions are increasingly recognized. There is also a growing awareness of the suboptimal quality of reports presenting research based on RCD. This has created a perfect storm of increased interest and use of RCD for research, together with inadequate reporting of the strengths and weaknesses of these data resources. The REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely-collected Data (RECORD) statement was developed to address these limitations and to help researchers using RCD to meet their ethical obligations of complete and accurate reporting, as well as improve the utility of research conducted using RCD. The RECORD statement has been endorsed by more than 15 journals, includingClinical Epidemiology. This journal now recommends that authors submit the RECORD checklist together with any manuscript reporting on research using RCD.
authors: Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute; School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors: Stuart G
authors: SG
authors: Nicholls
authors: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors: Sinead M
authors: SM
authors: Langan
authors: Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors: Henrik Toft
authors: HT
authors: Sørensen
authors: Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark; Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University College London, London, UK.
authors: Irene
authors: I
authors: Petersen
authors: Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute; Department of Pediatrics and School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors: Eric I
authors: EI
authors: Benchimol
keywords: assessment; observational studies; publication; research waste; standards