Identifying and Appraising Real-World Evidence Data Sources for the Overweight and Obesity Population Across the EU4 and the United Kingdom

OBJECTIVES: Overweight and obesity are a complex, escalating, and serious public health concern. Robust high-quality real-world evidence (RWE) would support optimal overweight and obesity treatment and management. Therefore, identifying appropriate real-world data (RWD) sources for research has become a priority. This research aims to identify and determine the availability and suitability of RWD in the overweight and obesity population, to generate high-quality RWE across Europe.

METHODS: A targeted literature review was performed to identify RWD sources in published literature. RWD sources were also identified using data networks and data listing registries.

RESULTS: One hundred RWD sources were identified across the EU4 and United Kingdom (UK). Nine RWD data sources were identified in Italy, 10 in France, 23 in Germany, 30 in Spain and 28 in the UK. RWD sources consisted of electronic health and medical records (42 RWD sources), claims and administrative databases (1), pharmacy databases (2), surveys (27), and cohort databases (28). Within these RWD sources, there were significant in-country and between-country discrepancies in how data is recorded for the overweight and obesity population.

CONCLUSIONS: A vast amount of overweight and obesity related RWD exists across the EU4 plus UK. Electronic health and medical records are the most readily available data sources, providing both national and regional coverage, often also allowing for linkage to other databases. Nevertheless, the discrepancies in how data is recorded for the overweight and obesity population, presents a substantial challenge for linking data sources within country and combining multi-country RWD. However, consistency in RWD reporting for the overweight and obesity population is essential to tackle this epidemic. Therefore, we must advocate for standardised reporting for this population to provide reliable, valid, and generalisable findings across the EU4 and the UK.