📌 Agenzia Regionale di Sanità (ARS) – Italy 🇮🇹

🔍 What is it?

The Agenzia Regionale di Sanità (ARS) Toscana maintains a regional healthcare database covering the Tuscany region in Italy. It integrates real-world data (RWD) from multiple healthcare sources, supporting epidemiological, health services, and pharmacoepidemiology research.

📊 Key Features & Scope

📍 Geographical coverage: Tuscany, Italy 🇮🇹
🏥 Data type: Administrative and clinical healthcare data, including hospitalizations, outpatient services, prescriptions, emergency care, and mortality records
🕒 Time coverage: Over 20 years of longitudinal data
👥 Population covered: The entire resident population of Tuscany (~3.7 million people)
🔄 Longitudinal data: Enables tracking of patient healthcare utilization over time
📈 Pathologies: Covers chronic diseases, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and rare diseases

✅ Strengths & Best Use Cases

🌍 Regional representativeness – Comprehensive coverage of public healthcare services in Tuscany
💊 Pharmacoepidemiology & drug utilization – Detailed prescription data linked to health outcomes
📈 Health services research – Supports analysis of healthcare access, efficiency, and disease burden
🚀 Disease epidemiology – Enables monitoring of disease trends and population health

⚠️ Limitations & Considerations

🏥 Limited inpatient healthcare data –Therapies administered during inpatient care are not recorded, nor are diagnoses issued by specialists or results of diagnostic tests recorded.

📉 Limited primary care details – Primary care visits are not recorded

📚 How to Access & Learn More

🔗 Access: Requires research approval from ARS Toscana
🎓 Publications: [Insert link to relevant studies]
📄 More info: [ARS Toscana official website]