BMJ Open (Oct 2020)

Understanding and responding to COVID-19 in Wales: protocol for a privacy-protecting data platform for enhanced epidemiology and evaluation of interventions

  • Ashley Akbari,
  • Chris Davies,
  • Ann John,
  • Simon Thompson,
  • Ronan Lyons,
  • Sinead Brophy,
  • Tamas Szakmany,
  • Amy Mizen,
  • Richard Fry,
  • Rowena Griffiths,
  • Jan Davies,
  • Gareth John,
  • Peter Diggle,
  • Chris Orton,
  • James Rafferty,
  • Christopher Williams,
  • Jane Lyons,
  • Fatemeh Torabi,
  • Gareth I Davies,
  • Laura North,
  • Rowena Bailey,
  • Joseph Hollinghurst,
  • Samantha L Turner,
  • Daniel Thompson,
  • Lee Au-Yeung,
  • Lynsey Cross,
  • Mike B Gravenor,
  • Biagio Lucini,
  • Daniel Rh Thomas,
  • Chris Emmerson,
  • Simon Cottrell,
  • Thomas R Connor,
  • Chris Taylor,
  • Richard J Pugh,
  • Simon Scourfield,
  • Joe Hunt,
  • Anne M Cunningham,
  • Kathryn Helliwell

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-043010
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 10

Abstract

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Introduction The emergence of the novel respiratory SARS-CoV-2 and subsequent COVID-19 pandemic have required rapid assimilation of population-level data to understand and control the spread of infection in the general and vulnerable populations. Rapid analyses are needed to inform policy development and target interventions to at-risk groups to prevent serious health outcomes. We aim to provide an accessible research platform to determine demographic, socioeconomic and clinical risk factors for infection, morbidity and mortality of COVID-19, to measure the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare utilisation and long-term health, and to enable the evaluation of natural experiments of policy interventions.Methods and analysis Two privacy-protecting population-level cohorts have been created and derived from multisourced demographic and healthcare data. The C20 cohort consists of 3.2 million people in Wales on the 1 January 2020 with follow-up until 31 May 2020. The complete cohort dataset will be updated monthly with some individual datasets available daily. The C16 cohort consists of 3 million people in Wales on the 1 January 2016 with follow-up to 31 December 2019. C16 is designed as a counterfactual cohort to provide contextual comparative population data on disease, health service utilisation and mortality. Study outcomes will: (a) characterise the epidemiology of COVID-19, (b) assess socioeconomic and demographic influences on infection and outcomes, (c) measure the impact of COVID-19 on short -term and longer-term population outcomes and (d) undertake studies on the transmission and spatial spread of infection.Ethics and dissemination The Secure Anonymised Information Linkage-independent Information Governance Review Panel has approved this study. The study findings will be presented to policy groups, public meetings, national and international conferences, and published in peer-reviewed journals.