Version 5.5 of the OMOP CDM is now live and ready for use!
OMOP CDM v5.5: What’s New?
Link to CDM v5.5 Specifications
Link to CDM v5.5 changes
OMOP CDM v5.5 is an incremental, non-breaking update to v5.4 designed to address specific needs identified by the OHDSI community while supporting the continued evolution of the OMOP Vocabulary. Rather than introducing major structural changes, v5.5 adds targeted capabilities for representing clinical data and introduces new vocabulary tables that provide richer information about drug products, concepts, and relationships.
The result is a relatively small CDM update with benefits for data partners who need these new capabilities, and a simple, non-urgent, migration for those who do not. Existing v5.4 fields and structures remain intact, and analytic code developed against v5.4 will continue to work with a v5.5 database.
What does v5.5 add?
CDM v5.5 introduces a focused set of additions:
- Linkage between specimens and clinical encounters through visit identifiers in SPECIMEN
- Support for date-valued observations with value_as_date in OBSERVATION
- Additional source-level information for values through value_as_source_concept_id in OBSERVATION and MEASUREMENT
- Source-level unit information in OBSERVATION through unit_source_concept_id
- Improved representation of drug packs through the new PACK_CONTENT vocabulary table
- Greater vocabulary transparency and provenance through new concept metadata and concept relationship metadata tables
- Release tracking through cdm_release_identifier in CDM_SOURCE
These changes are additive and the new fields are non-required. Existing v5.4 fields and structures remain intact, and analytic code developed against v5.4 will continue to work with a v5.5 database.
Should I upgrade to OMOP CDM v5.5?
There is no immediate requirement for existing v5.4 data partners to upgrade. If your current implementation meets your needs and you do not need the new v5.5 capabilities, you can continue operating on v5.4.
However, we recommend planning a move to v5.5 when practical, particularly if the new capabilities are relevant to your data. Moving to v5.5 allows you to take full advantage of the latest OMOP Vocabulary structure and prepares your database to participate in studies that use v5.5-specific fields.
The latest OMOP Vocabulary can still be used with a v5.4 database, but the new v5.5 vocabulary tables will not be available within the v5.4 CDM structure. If you are currently developing a new OMOP CDM implementation or planning a new ETL, we recommend targeting v5.5 rather than v5.4.
What if a study uses OMOP CDM v5.5?
This is where the distinction becomes important. A data partner can remain on v5.4 and continue participating in studies that rely only on v5.4-compatible structures.
However, if a study uses one of the new fields or tables introduced in v5.5, participating data partners will need to adopt the relevant v5.5 structure to execute that study as designed.
Our recommendation
Upgrade when it makes sense for your organization, there is no need to rush.
For existing v5.4 implementations, v5.5 is a relatively small upgrade that provides access to the latest CDM and Vocabulary capabilities and prepares your database for future OHDSI studies. If those capabilities are not currently relevant to you, remaining on v5.4 in the near term will not disrupt your existing workflows. However, any network study that makes use of v5.5 fields will require all participating data partners to utilize OMOP CDM v5.5.
In short: v5.4 will continue to work; v5.5 gives you access to what comes next.