UB researchers can access national-level COVID datasets through the N3C

The National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) is a program which integrates data from 75 healthcare organizations regarding the clinical data of their COVID patients into a nationally accessible database operated by the National Center for Advancement of Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health. The data is a limited dataset, but contains useful information such as age, gender, three-digit ZIP codes, date shifted dates and laboratory results, vital signs, diagnoses, procedures, and outcomes such as death, ICU admission and hospital admission. See ncats.nih.gov/n3c/about for additional information, including an informational video.

As of February 2, the dataset includes over 2.8 million people with over 575,000 COVID positive individuals. The data can be accessed after filing a data use request (DUR) at ncats.nih.gov/n3c/about/applying-for-access. You will need to register at labs.cd2h.org/registration and then it will allow you to log in here. Once logged in you will need to determine whether your research can be done on a simulated dataset, a totally deidentified dataset (no ages, dates or ZIP codes), or if you need the limited dataset.

If you need assistance or more information contact Peter L. Elkin, MD, Director, Informatics Core, and Professor and Chair, Department of Biomedical Informatics and Professor of Internal Medicine, Jacobs School, at elkinp@buffalo.edu. “We would like to keep track of the projects from UB using the N3C database,” Elkin says. “So, if you do not need help please send me an email letting me know about your project. Thank you.”