Carlos Alberto Castro, Guillermo Sánchez-Vanegas, Diana Buitrago-García
Introduction: Biomedical records are a tool for the generation of evidence. These databases store a large amount of information, which makes it possible to identify the distribution of a pathology and to determine the heterogeneity in the management of patients and to generate investigations based on real-life data that suggest the efficacy of a drug.
Objective: To design, implement and evaluate a biomedical registry of follow-up to medical care and clinical outcomes of patients with general acute and chronic diseases of high frequency among the Colombian population.
Methods: A biomedical record was built (descriptive cohort), in patients diagnosed with chronic and acute pathologies (arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia, osteoarthritis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, venous insufficiency, asthma, pain, rhinitis, vertigo, vaginal discharge syndrome, osteoporosis, intestinal parasitosis, pneumonia and sinusitis) in 12 Colombian cities.
Results: We analyzed 3555 patients. The records included the information filled out on the platform. The median age was 49 years (IQR: 33-63), and sex was distributed as follows: 2,232 women (62.8%) and 1,323 men (37.2%). Regarding adherence to medical follow-up, of the total records (n=6186), 3555 corresponded to associations and 2631 to follow-up appointments, which led us to determine that adherence to medical control was (73.9%).
Conclusion: The findings of this study contribute to strengthening the need for biomedical records, as a source of real-life information. It is relevant to be rigorous in the construction of biomedical records for the generation of evidence, since the quality of the information is associated with the presence and control of biases.