ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a general description of the different types of databases currently used in research: administrative, registry, clinical and practice. Practice and clinical databases fall between the comprehensiveness and breadth of claims databases and the specificity of disease registries. The chapter reviews how these databases have been used in the areas of cost analyses, cost-effectiveness, epidemiology, and predictive modelling. Although database research is moving more toward examining the efficiency of health care interventions, initially database research was applied to one aspect of economic efficiency: the cost of care. In cost-effectiveness studies, the focus of database research is on the identification and measurement of input and process indicators and health related outcomes. The chapter examines the benefits and the risks of using databases in health care research and offers some recommendations for improving the use of databases in health services research.
