CPRD collects fully-coded patient electronic health records from GP practices using the Vision® or EMIS® software systems. Due to some differences in structure and clinical coding in these two systems, these data are provided as two separate primary care databases at present with accompanying metadata and advice to enable researchers to make study-specific decisions on how best to pool these data.
Our in-house researchers are happy to provide advice on which database to use depending on your research question.
Contact enquiries@cprd.com for more information.
Who can access the data?
Access to data from CPRD is subject to a full licence agreement containing detailed terms and conditions of use. Anonymised patient datasets can be extracted for researchers against specific study specifications, following protocol approval via CPRD's Research Data Governance Process.
CPRD GOLD
CPRD GOLD contains data contributed by practices using Vision® software. Information about CPRD GOLD data content and structure can be found in the data specification document below.
- (PDF, 399KB, 19 pages)
- Release notes and COVID-19 feasibility counts
- Publication: Herrett E, Gallagher AM, Bhaskaran K, Forbes H, Mathur R, van Staa T, Smeeth L. Data Resource Profile: Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). Int J Epidemiol. 2015 Jun 6;44(3):827–36.
CPRD Aurum
CPRD Aurum contains routinely-collected data from practices using EMIS Web® electronic patient record system software. Further information including how to access CPRD Aurum and the differences between CPRD GOLD and CPRD Aurum can be found in the data specification document and list of frequently asked questions documents.
- (PDF, 343KB, 14 pages)
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(PDF, 261KB, 13 pages)
- Publication: Wolf A, Dedman D, Campbell J, Booth H, Lunn D, Chapman J, Myles P. Data resource profile: Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) Aurum. Int J Epidemiol. 2019 Mar 11. pii: dyz034.
[Page last reviewed 7 October 2021]