Open Science in Latin America: Are We Using Our Public Data Enough in Health Technology Assessment?

OBJECTIVES: Real-World Data (RWD) and Real-World Evidence (RWE) are powerful tools to reduce uncertainties in health technology assessment (HTA) decision making, in cases such as improving accuracy on budget impact models population size or evaluating effectiveness. Therefore, we aim to evaluate existing public databases available in Latin America that can be helpful to support HTA process.

METHODS: This study was performed by a combination of literature review of economic evaluations in MEDLINE and LILACS, grey literature and governmental websites in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay from 2017 until June 2023. Once publications using RWD were identified, the sources were identified and explored. Only databases publicly available were considered in this analysis.

RESULTS: We identified 29 open access databases in Latin America, of which most were from Brazil (10; 34%), Colombia (6; 21%), Mexico (6; 21%) and Chile (4; 14%). Most of the data sources were from claims/administrative data (11; 38%), followed by mortality data (5; 17%), unit cost data (4; 14%) and health surveys (4; 14%). Among the potential types HTA-driven outcomes, healthcare resource utilization (26; 90%), patient characteristics (25; 86%), diagnosis (20; 69%), mortality (12; 41%) and treatment patterns (10; 34%).

CONCLUSIONS: Currently there are several RWD sources publicly available in Latin America, with distinct levels of granularity and outcomes available. On the other hand, those databases remain underutilized by the academic and HTA communities. In this context, it is crucial to increase the usage of the public databases and data availability, with open data initiatives, to decrease local uncertainties and improve the decision-making process. In conclusion, there is still a long way to run, but already a lot has been achieved in the last years.