AnDREa
During the analysis and post-processing stage of the VAC4EU pipeline, the study teams require a secure, web-based environment to carry out their collaboration. As VAC4EU is an association of members located across Europe, the work that takes place during these steps is predominantly remote. VAC4EU uses anDREa, a GDPR-compliant platform for sharing and collaborating on […]
VAC4EU GitHub
Scientific integrity is a core value of VAC4EU. Although the original data from the RWD sources always remains confidential, publicly sharingR scripts produced throughout the pipeline is encouraged, if appropriate. This enhance public trust in our findings and enable other researchers to re-use the code, strengthening the reproducibility of these methods.
Event Definition Forms
In a pharmacoepidemiology study involving secondary use of electronic healthcare databases, researchers need standardised definitions of the adverse events of special interests (AESI) they are assessing in the study. One of the objectives of EMA-funded project ACCESS (vACCine COVID-19 readinESS) was to create event definition forms for different AESI in addition to a blueprint for […]
VAC4EU Code List
In Europe, the diversity of medical coding systems used in electronic health data creates significant challenges in defining and retrieving study variables consistently across datasets. A concept defined in one coding system cannot be directly applied in another without harmonisation. The VAC4EU Code List tackles this issue by offering a centralised, semi-automated platform built on […]
CodeMapper
In electronic healthcare databases the coding systems used to specify diagnoses, procedures and treatments in encounters are often different. CodeMapper was developed during ADVANCE as a single tool which would map concepts from the Unified Medical Language System to the codes in each coding system. This web-based application facilitates semiautomatic mapping with a knowledge system […]
ConcePTION Pregnancy Algorithm
Some RWE studies may require the identification of pregnancies in the extracted population. The ConcePTION Pregnancy Algorithm was designed during the ConcePTION project to retrieve records which suggest that a patient was pregnant. This algorithm includes diagnosis codes which imply an ongoing or terminated pregnancy in hospital admission and discharge notes, primary care records, or […]
INSIGHT Quality Checks
Before a VAC4EU RWE study can be conducted, the DEAPs need to ensure the RWD source is well-suited to answer the research question, via Quality Checks (QC). The QC process is supported through INSIGHT, an open-source tool developed specifically for the ConcePTION CDM and since adapted for use by the VAC4EU study network. The tool […]
ConcePTION Common Data Model (CDM)
In RWE studies, Data Expert & Access Partners (DEAPs) need to align their data into a common structure using a CDM. This allows programmers to run the same script on diverse datasets. VAC4EU utilises the ConcePTION CDM, developed by the ConcePTION consortium, an IMI-funded project which aimed to establish practices to improve how the safety […]
VAC4EU Catalogue
There is a need to characterise and describe the RWD sources in the VAC4EU network to align with standards and guidelines on transparency. This also helps investigators understand the complexity inherent to diverse data sources. The VAC4EU FAIR Molgenis Metadata Catalogue is a member-only metadata management tool designed to be used throuhout the study pipeline […]
VAC4EU Academy
VAC4EU is committed to training a unique community of vaccine experts. To this end, the VAC4EU Academy provides practical, regularly updated online training on detailed methods to generate RWE from diverse RWD sources. Content is planned, coordinated and developed by the VAC4EU Academy TF alongside contributions from expert authors and reviewers from the VAC4EU community.