BACKGROUND: In England, many primary care practices migrated from VISION to EMIS software. In 2017, Clinical Practice Research Datalink launched Aurum, incorporating some of these migrating practices from GOLD and new practices using EMIS.
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate data migration and new recording in Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum by comparing the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) diagnosis and medications in GOLD and Aurum before and after first collection date (fcd) from EMIS.
METHODS: Among practices migrating from GOLD to Aurum, 7 were randomly selected, and patients aged 40 years or older and registered in the practice at least 1 year before the last collection date for GOLD (migration) were included. COPD diagnoses and use of COPD controller medications were evaluated for both GOLD and Aurum within 1 year before migration and, for Aurum, also within 1 year after EMIS fcd. The availability of information on duration of prescriptions was assessed.
RESULTS: A total of 26,666 patients in GOLD and 26,994 in Aurum were included in this study. Among those, 4.6% in GOLD and 4.4% in Aurum had a recorded diagnosis of COPD any time before the migration. In GOLD, 3.2% of patients had COPD within 1 year before migration. Among those, 81.4% were treated: 61.7% with long-acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMA), 59.3% with long-acting β2-agonists/inhaled corticosteroids (LABA/ICS), 10.6% with LABA, and 0.7% with LAMA/LABA. In Aurum, 3.3% of patients had COPD within 1 before migration. Among those, 81.4% were treated: 62.7% with LAMA, 59.7% with LABA/ICS, 8.8% with LABA, and 3.3% with LAMA/LABA. In Aurum, within 1 year after EMIS fcd , 3.4% of patients had COPD. Among those, 81.7% were treated: 56.3% with LAMA, 49.6% with LABA/ICS, 6.2% with LABA, and 14.1% with LAMA/LABA. The duration of COPD prescriptions was available for 76.7% of the prescriptions in GOLD and 94.1% in Aurum within 1 year before migration and in 97.6% in Aurum within 1 year after EMIS fcd. Conclusions:
CONCLUSIONS: Migration of recording of COPD diagnoses and medications resulted in similar prevalence of patients with COPD and medication use. New recording of COPD diagnoses was in line with prior data. In Aurum, use of COPD medications after EMIS fcd increased for LAMA/LABA and decreased for LABA and LABA/ICS. Availability of data on duration of COPD medications was more complete in Aurum than in GOLD.
