APRIL 2026

PaTH Network’s Updated Health Record Research Resource: The Health & Weight Cohort

Access to high quality health record data is a critical feature of patient-centered real-world evidence research. In addition to the quarterly refreshing and quality checking that each PaTH site performs to maintain the PCORnet Common Data Model at their institution, PaTH sites have also collaborated over the past year to launch the PaTH Health & Weight Cohort. The current version of this database has a long history stemming from a PCORI initiative to facilitate research on weight-related health conditions. At its inception in 2015, the “Weight Cohort” included patients of all ages who had 2 recorded weights and 1 recorded height (or 2 heights, for children) within the past 5 years, but the data could only be used for research related to body weight. Data from the PaTH sites were gathered in one large dataset and stored securely at the University of Pittsburgh, where investigators from any PaTH site, with approval from PaTH leadership, could have remote access to the dataset. Since the data had already been collected and compiled, researchers could enjoy lower costs to access a substantial subset of PaTH sites’ data.

In response to increasing requests to use the cohort for answering health care questions that are not limited to body weight, the PaTH Executive Committee and Informatics team have worked to create governance for how the new Health and Weight Cohort would be structured and accessed to expand access for research while protecting patient data. The result is a robust dataset of over 6 million patients across 6 PaTH sites, with 2 additional sites’ data in progress, including patients of all ages with recent height and weight measurements (indicating recent health system access). Data are de-identified to reduce start-up time for new analyses. Annual refreshes of the Health and Weight Cohort are planned in the fall, with new date-shifting with each refresh to preserve data privacy. We are excited about the potential for important discoveries to be made across a wide range of health topics with the Health and Weight Cohort.

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