The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors has approved $9 million to fund two research studies focused on the treatment and prevention of obesity in children and adults. The research teams will use the partnerships and secure data resources of PCORnet, the National Patient-Centered Research Network.

One study will compare the three main methods of weight loss surgery to provide patients and providers with information to help determine the best for their needs. The other will compare the effects of different types of antibiotics on young children’s weight and risk for obesity in later childhood.

The studies will demonstrate PCORnet’s capacity to conduct such observational research faster and with a greater volume of data than is possible through conventional ways of doing research, while ensuring patients’ privacy, according to a release.

In each study, patients’ health records will be maintained securely behind the firewalls of the individual health systems that make up the participating PCORnet partner networks. The research teams will receive general information combined from many records that can’t be linked to individual patients unless the patients agree to share identified information.