COVID-19 Surveillance in the Biobank at the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine: Observational Study

• Published in: JMIR public health and surveillance 2022-06, Vol.8 (6), p.e37327-e37327
• Main Authors: Johnson, Randi K, Marker, Katie M, Mayer, David, Shortt, Jonathan, Kao, David, Barnes, Kathleen C, Lowery, Jan T, Gignoux, Christopher R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Aged; Biobanks; Biological Specimen Banks; Codes; Colorado - epidemiology; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 vaccines; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data warehouses; Disease; Electronic health records; Ethnicity; Female; Health care; Health services utilization; Health surveillance; Hispanic people; Hospitalization; Humans; Infections; Minority & ethnic groups; Mortality; Multimedia; Observational studies; Older people; Original Paper; Pandemics; Polls & surveys; Population; Precision Medicine; Public health; Vital statistics; Web portals; Young Adult; Young adults
• ISSN: 2369-2960; 2369-2960
• DOI: 10.2196/37327

Characterizing the experience and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among various populations remains challenging due to the limitations inherent in common data sources, such as electronic health records (EHRs) or cross-sectional surveys. This study aims to describe testing behaviors, symptoms, impact, vaccination status, and case ascertainment during the COVID-19 pandemic using integrated data sources. In summer 2020 and 2021, we surveyed participants enrolled in the Biobank at the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine (CCPM; N=180,599) about their experience with COVID-19. The prevalence of testing, symptoms, and impacts of COVID-19 on employment, family life, and physical and mental health were calculated overall and by demographic categories. Survey respondents who reported receiving a positive COVID-19 test result were considered a "confirmed case" of COVID-19. Using EHRs, we compared COVID-19 case ascertainment and characteristics in EHRs versus the survey. Positive cases were identified in EHRs using the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10) diagnosis codes, health care encounter types, and encounter primary diagnoses. Of the 25,063 (13.9%) survey respondents, 10,661 (42.5%) had been tested for COVID-19, and of those, 1366 (12.8%) tested positive. Nearly half of those tested had symptoms or had been exposed to someone who was infected. Young adults (18-29 years) and Hispanics were more likely to have positive tests compared to older adults and persons of other racial/ethnic groups. Mental health (n=13,688, 54.6%) and family life (n=12,233, 48.8%) were most negatively affected by the pandemic and more so among younger groups and women; negative impacts on employment were more commonly reported among Black respondents. Of the 10,249 individuals who responded to vaccination questions from version 2 of the survey (summer 2021), 9770 (95.3%) had received the vaccine. After integration with EHR data up to the time of the survey completion, 1006 (4%) of the survey respondents had a discordant COVID-19 case status between EHRs and the survey. Using all longitudinal EHR and survey data, we identified 11,472 (6.4%) COVID-19-positive cases among Biobank participants. In comparison to COVID-19 cases identified through the survey, EHR-identified cases were younger and more likely to be Hispanic. We found that the COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching and varying effects among our Biobank participants. Integrated data ass