After the cancellation of the EU OHDSI symposium, scheduled at the end of this month, the community is bouncing back with an alternative activity: A virtual COVID-19 study-a-thon on the dates originally planned for the symposium: March 26th to 29th.
If you are new to the study-a-thon concept, you can find an overview of our study-a-thon last January here and a webinar discussing the first study-a-thon held back in December 2018 on our YouTube channel. In summary, through the concerted collaboration of several dozens of stakeholders, with very different backgrounds, the study-a-thons generate meaningful outcomes using real world data in a matter of days rather than years.
We expect there are many ways the upcoming COVID-19 study-a-thon can contribute to a better understanding of the COVID-19 crisis, for example:
- Characterisation of symptoms and complications of viral diseases.
- Prediction of adverse outcomes amongst patients with virus-related hospitalisation.
- Comparative safety of treatments being considered/used for potential use in COVID-19.
Logistically, this study-a-thon will differ from previous study-a-thons as it will be a virtual meeting. The study-a-thon will be hosted via TC/web conference with daily sessions planned to work for every time zone to accommodate participation around the world, with particular emphasis on supporting the needs of our colleagues in South Korea. We will then have remote sites across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions that will participate through web conferencing and though public exchange of study documentation, analysis code and results.
The full announcement of the study-a-thon on COVID-19 can be found on the OHDSI Forum.
If you want to participate in the upcoming COVID-19 study-a-thon, please sign up using this Google form.