[Ultrasound detection of congenital anomalies in 76,155 births in the cities of Bogotá and Cali, 2011-2012]

Availability of secondary healthcare data for conducting pharmacoepidemiology studies in Colombia: A systematic review

Real-world evidence (RWE) is emerging as a fundamental component of the post-marketing evaluation of medicinal products. Even though the focus on RWE studies has increased in Colombia, the availability of secondary data sources to perform this type of research is not well documented. Thus, we aimed at identifying and characterizing secondary data sources available in Colombia. We performed a systematic literature review on PubMed, EMBASE, and VHL using a combination of controlled vocabulary and keywords for the concepts of electronic health records, epidemiologic studies and Colombia. A total of 323 publications were included. These comprised 123 identified secondary data sources including pharmacy dispensing databases, government datasets, disease registries, insurance databases, and electronic heath records, among others. These data sources were mostly used for cross-sectional studies focused on disease epidemiology in a specific population. Almost all databases (95%) contained demographic information, followed by pharmacological treatment (44%) and diagnostic tests (39%). Even though the database owner was identifiable in 94%, access information was only available in 44% of the articles. Only a pharmacy-dispensing database, local cancer registries, and government databases included a description regarding the quality of the information available. The diversity of databases identified shows that Colombia has a high potential to continue enhancing its RWE strategy. Greater efforts are required to improve data quality and accessibility. The linkage between databases will expand data pooling and integration to boost the translational potential of RWE.

Health status and barriers in health care for children with birth defects born between 2011 and 2017 in two institutions in Cali

Introducción.

Los defectos congénitos afectan entre el 2 y el 3 % de los recién nacidos, y son una carga importante entre las causas de morbilidad y mortalidad infantil en los primeros cinco años de vida. En Colombia, fueron la segunda causa de mortalidad infantil según los reportes del Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (DANE) para el 2011.

Objetivo.

Describir el estado de salud y las barreras en la atención de niños con defectos congénitos nacidos entre el 2011 y el 2017 en dos instituciones de salud de Cali.

Materiales y métodos.

Se hizo un estudio observacional descriptivo de corte transversal. Se incluyeron los nacidos entre enero de 2011 y diciembre de 2017 con, al menos, un defecto congénito, a quienes se les hizo seguimiento telefónico.

Resultados.

De 54.193 nacidos en el período analizado, 1.389 (2,56 %) tenían, por lo menos, un defecto congénito. Todos los casos se clasificaron según la escala de pronóstico y se incluyeron 881 en el seguimiento. El defecto congénito más frecuente fue la malformación congénita cardíaca, con 88 (9,99 %) casos; en segundo lugar, las malformaciones o defectos del riñón, con 73 (8,29 %) casos; en tercer lugar, el síndrome de Down, con 72 (8,17 %) casos, y en cuarto lugar, las anormalidades testiculares, con 56 (6,36 %). Ciento sesenta y uno (35,46 %) de los cuidadores de los 454 casos con seguimiento efectivo, manifestaron haber encontrado, por lo menos, un tipo de barrera en la atención.

Conclusión.

Se deben implementar programas de seguimiento de los pacientes con defectos congénitos, que contribuyan a disminuir la morbimortalidad.

Birth defects surveillance: experiences in Argentina and Colombia

Birth defects (BDs) are structural or functional anomalies, sporadic or hereditary, of prenatal origin. Public health surveillance is defined as the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of outcome-specific data for use in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice. BD surveillance systems may have different characteristics according to design, coverage, type of surveillance, case ascertainment, case definition, BD description, maximum age of diagnosis, pregnancy outcomes, coding systems, and the location of the coding process (central or local). The aim of this article is to describe and compare methodology, applications, and results of birth defect surveillance systems in two South-American countries: Colombia and Argentina. In both countries, the surveillance systems developed activities in relation to the Zika virus emergency. For most BDs, a statistically significant higher prevalence is observed in Argentina-RENAC than in Colombian registries. This may be due to methodological reasons or real differences in prevalence. The strengths, weaknesses, and the future perspectives of the Argentine and Colombian systems are presented. When developing a surveillance system, the objectives, the available resources, and previous experiences in similar contexts must be taken into account. In that sense, the experience of Argentina and Colombia can be useful for others when developing a birth defect surveillance system.