Services available

Check here the services available so far

Research Projects

Research Projects with the SIDIAP

The SIDIAP works on a daily basis to be able to respond quickly to research projects proposed by research teams. These projects respond to a duly elaborated protocol that has been previously approved by the CC SIDIAP and the Ethics Committee (CEIm) of the IDIAP Jordi Gol. For more information, please consult the Applications section.

Before the evaluation by the CEIm, the SIDIAP carries out a feasibility study of the project to guarantee the viability of the study before the end of the circuit.

Once the project has been approved, a meeting is convened with the Research Team, the Data Extractor (DE), and a clinical consultant to carry out the operationalization of the project. This operationalization consists in translating the protocol into the SIDIAP data and concludes with the generation of the Specification Document (DOCESP), which gives the Research Team a detailed description of all the information necessary to be able to define their study:

  • Population chart with exclusion/inclusion criteria
  • Final population
  • Domains
  • Selected codes and Encodings
  • Periods
  • Columns


After receiving the DOCESP consent from the researchers, data extraction and a data Quality Report are carried out to validate the correctness of the Date prior to submission.

Research projects with SIDIAP-OMOP

SIDIAP is translated into the OHDSI Common Data Model (CDM), OHDSI, OMOP.

This means that you can participate with SIDIAP-OMOP in any project of these consortia if the necessary data are available.

SIDIAP-OMOP data are not given to the research teams. Instead of extracting the data, the studies are run within the SIDIAP network and only the results are shared externally.

If you need more information please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Research projects with SIDIAP-CONCEPTION

SIDIAP is translated into the Common Data Model (CDM)CONCEPTION, which is used by VAC4EU.

This means that you can participate with SIDIAP-CONCEPTION in any project of this consortium if the necessary data are available.

SIDIAP-CONCEPTION data are not given to the research teams but the studies are run in the SIDIAP network and only the results are shared externally.

If you need further information, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Feasibility Studies
Studies that provide approximate data and to which the existing quality control mechanisms and processes are not applied, since their objective is to obtain a first approximation of the problem to see if it is worth carrying out a better defined study at a later date. No scientific publication can be made with these projects, as the information does not have the precision or guarantees required for a scientific manuscript.
Exploratory studies
For those first approximations, in which we want to know the N available in the database for a given health problem or drug. It is necessary to indicate the health problem by defining the ICD-10 code or the drug with the ATC code and only the N will be given (without stratifying or adjusting). These data will be provided free of charge, and should be understood as a measure of feasibility; this N does not have to be published (except in applications for funding and study/study protocols).

External Sources

SIDIAP can cross-reference its information with the data available in the Data Analytics Programme for Health Research and Innovation - PADRIS - PADRIS.

At present, this circuit allows cross-referencing with:

  • Acute Patients Hospitals (CMBD-AH)

  • Monographic Psychiatric Hospitals (CMDB-SMH)

  • Outpatient Mental Health (CMDB-SMA)

  • Emergency Department (CMDB-UR)

  • Outpatient Hospital Medication Dispensing Register (MHDA)

  • Registry of Patients and Treatments of CatSalut (RPT)

  • Health Services DataMart

  • Pharmaceutical Services DataMart

  • Registry of Familial Hypercholesterolemia

In addition, SIDIAP can link other data not included in PADRIS, by means of secure cross-referencing. As an example, and among many others, it has been possible to include information in SIDIAP studies of:

  • Parc Salut Mar Cancer Register

    Hospital Register

  • ARTPER Cohort

    Cohort of patients with peripheral artery disease

  • ReDeGi

    Girona Dementia Patient Registry

  • Mortality Register

    Mortality Register of the National Institute of Statistics

  • REGICOR

    Girona Heart Register

  • Meteorological and environmental data

    Catalan Meteorological Service

Other services

  • Free text

    • SIDIAP has access to the anonymised free text written by primary care professionals in medical records (MEAPS). This text can be used to perform validations of health problems, extract signs or symptoms or record other necessary unstructured information.

      The procedure for conducting the free text analysis that SIDIAP currently offers is detailed below:

      1. The research team defines the population and time windows of interest.
      2. A third party (the Catalan Institute of Health) extracts the free text according to point 1.
      3. The research team defines the search concepts of interest ("key" words).
      4. SIDIAP identifies the concepts of interest defined by the research team.
      5. The text is analysed by the research team.
      6. The free text is returned to SIDIAP and the cases and/or information not useful for the project (not validated in point 5) are deleted.

  • Validation questionnaires

    From SIDIAP and through the Primary Care teams, validation questionnaires can be designed and published.
    These forms can be made available to be used by health professionals for different purposes:
    • Validating diagnoses, opinions, etc.
    • Selecting specific basic care units according to the objective of a subsequent project.
    • Obtaining relevant information, not otherwise collected, from the research.

  • Geographical representations

    By means of vector maps, the SIDIAP can help to geographically represent data in Catalonia.
    It is currently possible to represent data at the level of:
    • Provinces
    • Health Regions (RS)
    • Basic Health Areas (ABS)
    • Census sections

    These representations also allow the calculation of distances, e.g. between hospitals, or the assignment of specific addresses to any healthcare unit.

  • Pre-selections

    Availability to select randomly or, following criteria provided by the research teams, centres, units, professionals or others in order to be able to carry out any type of research study a posteriori: interventions, clinical trials, validation studies, case/control studies, ...
SIDIAP, 2022