Trends in orthopedic research: An analysis of podium presentations at the AAOS annual meetings from 2008-2018

Although designed primarily for tracking, insurance, coding, or billing purposes, state and national administrative databases of medical records have been made available for research purposes These databases provide substantial health care data on large populations of patients and present a relatively efficient method for researchers to obtain a large sample size and conduct studies on a larger scale. Subsequently, they allow for easy evaluation of hospital or patient outcomes and provide the benefit of increased statistical strength of conclusions However, it is important to consider the limitations both within and between databases that may bias results, including lack of standardization, varied patient data entry and collection methods, data inaccuracy, and validity Consideration must be given to the utility of these databases and what role they should play in the