Who are we missing? Underrepresentation of data sources used for pharmacoepidemiology research in the United States

The representativeness of US data sources used for pharmacoepidemiology research had not been systematically quantified across race, ethnicity, geography, insurance type, and socioeconomic status, leaving unknown the degree to which RWE findings generalize to the broader US population.

Target RWE researchers systematically characterized the demographic and socioeconomic profiles of populations covered by commonly used US pharmacoepidemiology data sources compared to the US Census, revealing patterns of underrepresentation.

Documenting systematic data source underrepresentation provides a critical methodological foundation for Target RWE's data-agnostic analytic approach and informs pharma partners about generalizability limitations.

Data source representativeness characterization for generalizability-aware RWE study design, Underrepresentation evidence informing inclusive data source selection for pharma partner studies