A brief introduction to the FUTang Updating medical REcords (FUTURE) database.

Futang Research Center of Pediatric Development (FRCPD), the first nonprofit social service organization engaging in pediatric research in China, was founded in May 2013. Until August 2021, FRCPD has 40 tertiary children’s hospitals, accounting for about 65.6% of all national public children’s hospitals, which was reported to be 61 in China Health Statistical Yearbook (2020). The hospitals are distributed in 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities (except for Tibet autonomous region), and most of them are in the capital of the province, forming a broad frontline representing the best quality of health care for the diagnosis and treatment of children’s disease in China. Based on the idea of sharing, FRCPD realized the exchange of experts, medical resources, research findings, educational events, preventive strategies, and management experiences among members. In the long run, FRCPD aims to continuously promote the quality of healthcare and medical service capability for children in China. The FUTang Updating medical REcords (FUTURE) database was born in 2019 in response to the initiative of “sharing of healthcare data resources” by the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. In the meantime, the Children’s Health Data Science Committee was established by FRCPD and designated to be in charge of the FUTURE database. The core objective of FUTURE is to promote data utilization and realize mutual development of member hospitals by strengthening the cooperation and sharing of healthcare data. Given that FUTURE is a valuable research tool, we aim to present the essential aspects of the database including the data source, quality control process, and collected variables in this article.