Abstract
BACKGROUND: Analyzing real-world data, including health insurance claims, may help provide insights into preventing and treating various diseases. We developed a database covering Shizuoka Prefecture (Shizuoka Kokuho Database [SKDB]) in Japan, which included individual-level linked data on health- and care-insurance claims and health checkup results. METHODS: Anonymized claims data on health insurance (National Health Insurance [age <75 years] and Latter-Stage Elderly Medical Care System [age ≥75 years]), care insurance, subscriber lists, annual health checkups, and all dates of death were collected from 35 municipalities in Shizuoka Prefecture. To efficiently link claims and health checkups, unique individual IDs were assigned using a novel procedure. RESULTS: From April 2012 to September 2018, the SKDB included 2,230,848 individuals (men, 1,019,687; 45.7%). The median age (min-max) of men and women was 60 (0-106) and 62 (0-111) years, respectively. During the study period, the median subscription time was 4.4 years; 40.8% of individuals continuously subscribed for the 6.5 years; 213,566 individuals died. Health checkup data were available for 654,035 individuals, amounting to 2,469,648 records. Care-service recipient data were available for 283,537 individuals; they used care insurance to pay for care costs. CONCLUSION: SKDB, a population-based longitudinal cohort, provides a comprehensive dataset covering health checkups, disorders, medication, and care service. This database may provide a robust platform to identify epidemiological problems and generate hypotheses for preventing and treating disorders in the elderly.