Table 1

List of participating countries/regions and databases

Country/region	Database	Data nature and healthcare setting	Population coverage	Study period	Denominator	Data source for medical conditions	Data source for medication use	Data source for death
Asia-Pacific
Victoria, Australia	Linked hospital databases in the State of Victoria	EMR data from all Victorian public and private hospitals	100% (26 % of Australian population)	2012–2018	Mid-year population in the state of Victoria	Inpatient diagnosis	Dispensed and reimbursed data from Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme	Death Registry
Hong Kong	Clinical Data Analysis and Reporting System	EMR data from all public hospitals and clinics	90%	2005–2018	Mid-year population in Hong Kong	Inpatient and outpatient diagnosis	Dispensed data in public hospitals and clinics	Death registry
Japan	Japanese Medical Data Center	Claims data from >200 medical institutions	6%	2005–2018	Number of individuals in the database at start of year	Inpatient and outpatient diagnosis	Reimbursed data in pharmacy claims	TBC
South Korea	Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service	National Claims	97%	2008–2018	Mid-year population in South Korea	Inpatient and outpatient diagnosis	Dispensed data in hospitals and reimbursed data in pharmacy claims	National mortality registration data
New Zealand	Ministry of Health national databases	National data	98%	2005–2018	Mid-year population in New Zealand	Inpatient and outpatient diagnosis	National pharmaceutical claims database for all subsidised medicines in New Zealand	National death registration data (mortality dataset)
Singapore	Singapore Ministry of Health Central Claims Processing System	National Claims, Registries	100%	2005–2017	Mid-year population in Singapore	Inpatient diagnosis	NA	National death registration data
Taiwan	National Health Insurance Database	National Claims	99%	2005–2018	Mid-year population in Taiwan	Inpatient and outpatient diagnosis	Reimbursed data in pharmacy claims	Cause of death registry
Thailand	Central data from National Health Security Office	National Data	67%	2014–2018	Mid-year population in Thailand	Inpatient diagnosis	Reimbursed data	National Data
	Hospital databases	EMR	Varies across hospitals	Varies across hospitals	Mid-year population in EMR	Inpatient diagnosis	Diagnosis and dispensed data	EMR
Western Europe
France	SNDS	National Claims	99%	2006–2018	Mid-year population in France	Inpatient diagnosis	Reimbursed data in outpatients	National death registry
Germany	German sickness funds (WIG2)	Claims	5%	2012–2018	Mid-year population in Italy	Inpatient diagnosis	Reimbursed data in pharmacy claims	TBC
Italy	Pool of databases from 5 different regions (Lazio, Napoli, Umbria, Piemonte, Marche)	Claims	TBC	2012–2018 (Marche and Umbria) 2015–2018 (Piemonte, Napoli, Lazio)	Mid-year population in Italy	Inpatient diagnosis	Reimbursed data in pharmacy claims	NA
Netherlands	Integrated Primary Care Information database	Primary care EMR from >700 general practices (GP)	10%	2005–2018	Number of individuals in the database at start of year	GP diagnosis	GP prescription	NA
Spain	Spanish Centralized Hospital Discharge Database	EMR in all public and private hospitals	99.5%	2005–2018	Mid-year population in Spain	Inpatient diagnosis	NA	NA
UK	Clinical Practice Research Datalink	Primary care EMR from >650 GP	24%	2005–2018	Number of individuals in the database at start of year	Inpatient diagnosis	GP prescription	Office for National Statistics
Northern Europe
Denmark	Danish National Prescription Registry, Danish National Patient Register, Danish Civil Registration system, Cause of Death register	National Registries	100%	2005–2018	Mid-year population in Denmark	Inpatient and outpatient diagnosis	Dispensed data at community pharmacies	National death registry
Finland	Finnish Prescription Register, Care Register for Health Care, Causes of Death Register	National Registries	100%	2005–2018	Population of Finland at the turn of the year	Inpatient and outpatient diagnosis	Reimbursed data in pharmacies	National death registry
South & North America
Brazil	DATASUS	National Data	70%	2005–2018	Mid-year population in Brazil	Inpatient and outpatient diagnosis	TBC	National mortality information system
Canada	The Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System	Physician billing, hospitalisation and prescription drug databases from all Canadian provinces and territories	97%	incidence, mortality : 2005–2017 Treatment: 2005–2016 *by fiscal year from 1 April to 31 March	Number of individuals with valid health insurance at start of year	Inpatient diagnosis	Provincial /Territorial Drug Plan Databases	Provincial/Territorial Health Registries
USA	Medicare fee-for-service 20%	National Claims for patients covered by Medicare	Medicare covers more than 90% of population ≥65 years; about 70% in the Medicare fee-for-service programme. The data will be used for this study is a 20% random sample.	2007–2018	Number of individuals in the database at start of year	Inpatient and outpatient diagnosis	Reimbursed data in pharmacy claims	Medicare death report and national social security death master file
USA	Optum	Claims database for commercial-insured population	TBC	2005–2018	Number of individuals in the database at start of year	Inpatient and outpatient diagnosis	Reimbursed data in pharmacy claims	TBC

DATASUS, Brazilian Ministry of Health databases; EMR, electronic medical record; NA, not applicable; SNDS, French administrative health care database; TBC, to be confirmed.