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 diabetes and glucoselowering drugs (GLDs) 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 adult patients registered in the practice at least 1 year before the last collection date for GOLD (migration) were included. Diabetes diagnoses and GLDs 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 40,196 adults in GOLD and 40,699 in Aurum were included in this study. Among those, 9.2% in GOLD and 9.6% in Aurum had a recorded diagnosis of diabetes any time before the migration. In GOLD, 7.0% of patients had diabetes within 1 year before migration. Among those, 80.9% were treated: 24.0% with insulin, 82.6% with metformin, 34.0% with sulphonylureas, 15.6% with DPP4i, 6.8% with thiazolidinediones, 5.8% with SGLT2i, 3.9% with GLP-1 receptor agonists, 0.2% with meglitinides, and 0.1% with alpha glucosidase inhibitors. In Aurum, 7.5% of patients had diabetes within 1 year before migration. Among those, 80.2% were treated: 24.4% with insulin, 82.5% with metformin, 34.2% with sulphonylureas, 18.5% with DPP4i, 5.7% with thiazolidinediones, 8.4% with SGLT2i, 3.8% with GLP-1 receptor agonists, 0.2% with meglitinides, and 0.1% with alpha glucosidase inhibitors. In Aurum, within 1 year after EMIS fcd, 8.9% of patients had diabetes, and 67.4% were treated. The duration of non-Insulin GLDs prescriptions was available for 79.7% of prescriptions in GOLD and 87.7% in Aurum within 1 year before migration, and for 96.3% of prescriptions in Aurum within 1 year after EMIS fcd. For Insulin prescriptions, duration was available for 3.6% of prescriptions in GOLD and 23.8% of prescriptions in Aurum within 1 year before migration, and for 61.1% of prescriptions in Aurum within 1 year after EMIS fcd.
CONCLUSIONS: Migration of recording of diabetes diagnoses and GLDs resulted in similar prevalence of diabetes diagnoses and medication use. New recording of diabetes diagnoses was in line with prior data. Availability of data on duration of GLDs were more complete in Aurum than in GOLD.
