A SURVEY OF POPULATION-BASED DRUG DATABASES IN CANADA

Objective: To identify the population-based drug databases in Canada a nd to determine their comprehensiveness and accessibility for performi ng pharmacoepidemiologic and outcomes research. Design: Survey (four-p art mailed questionnaire). Setting: Public and private third-party dru g plans across Canada. Participants: All provincial and territorial dr ug plan or pharmacare managers as well as selected private plan manage rs including health benefit consultants, group insurers and claims adj udicators/pharmacy benefit managers (CA/PBMs). Outcome measures: Patie nt, drug and pharmacy information. potential for electronic linkages t o other provincial databases (e.g., physician, hospital, vital statist ics); accessibility of information; population profile. Results: Of th e 32 recipients of the questionnaire 29 (91%) responded and 18 (56%) c ompleted the survey. Most databases were reported to contain patient i nformation (e.g., patient identification number, age, sex and medicati on history) and prescription drug information (e.g., drug identificati on number, strength, quantity and cost). Six provinces ana one territo ry reported the capability to link to other databases (e.g., hospital and physician databases). One CA/PBM reported some links to selected l ongterm disability data. All of the government databases except those in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory allowed use of the data fo r research purposes. Manitoba and Saskatchewan included all residents of the province in their database; the others included selected groups (e.g., residents 65 years of age or older, people on social assistanc e or people covered by private group insurance). Conclusion: A number of public and private population-based databases are available for use in pharma-coepidemiologic and outcomes research.