The Utah Population Database (UPDB) is a dynamic database and receives annual updates from contributors for Utah births, marriages, divorces, deaths, cancer records, and driver licenses, as well as from Idaho cancer records. There are over 11 million records in the UPDB and those records include names and other information for family members. For example, a birth certificate record includes the name of the child, mother, and father. Multiple records for an individual are matched and a “person-oriented record” created. There are about 7.5 million unique individuals created from these records. The longitudinally linked data captures many events associated with an individual.

Records Available in UPDB

GenMed File

Beginning in 2003, a new research tool was created for investigators studying the familiality of disease: a link between the medical information contained in the University of Utah Health Sciences Center (UUHSC) Data Resource Center and the family history information in the UPDB. Access to the link file is limited to research only and is governed by the Resource for Genetic and Epidemiologic Research (RGE).

The UUHSC Data Resource Center contains more than 1.8 million patient demographic records. More than 1.26 million (73 percent) have been matched to a “person record” in UPDB with about 993,000 (51 percent) matched to a person with two or more generations. For Utah residents, 83% link and 59% have two or more generations. Neither the patient demographic records nor the medical information from the UUHSC are incorporated into the UPDB; each resource maintains its own records. However, the medical data and UPDB records are accessed at the time that a research-specific project has been approved.

Contacts:

Cheri Hunter (cheri.hunter@hsc.utah.edu) for Information Technology Service (ITS)

Geri Mineau (gmineau@hci.utah.edu) for the UPDB


Generations

The Utah family histories represent pedigrees that may span as many as eleven generations. The majority of families living in Utah are represented in this database with a special emphasis on genealogy records of the pioneers of Utah and their Utah descendants. Merging data from genealogies and birth certificates allows information for new generations to be added and most families can be linked across five generations. For example, looking at all individuals born in Utah in 1950, 79 percent have grandparent information available in the UPDB and 67 percent have five or more previous generations documented in the UPDB.

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