Harmonization of databases: A step for advancing the knowledge about spinal cord injury

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This article provides an overview of existing spinal cord injury (SCI) clinical research databases, including their purposes, characteristics, and accessibility to users; and presents a vision for future collaborations required for clinical research in SCI. This vision highlights the need for validated and relevant data for longitudinal clinical trials and observational and epidemiologic SCI-related studies. Three existing SCI clinical research databases/registries are reviewed and summarized with regard to current formats, collection methods, and uses, including major strengths and weaknesses. Two ongoing efforts to provide a uniform approach to data collection are also reviewed. The databases reviewed offer different approaches to capture important clinical information on SCI. They vary on size, purpose, data points, inclusion of standard outcomes, and technical requirements. Each presents with a set of limitations including lack of population data and lack of a common platform for data comparisons and exchanges. It is clear that numerous issues need to be considered when planning to establish common ways of collecting data through data sets or patient registries, ranging from a carefully crafted implementation plan to establishing a framework for dissemination of data and findings. For the present, taking advantage of the vast but different data already collected over many decades may require a variety of statistical skills and epidemiologic techniques. Ultimately, the ability to speak the same language with regard to variables and assessment tools will facilitate international collaborations and enhance comparability, data pooling, and the ability to generalize findings to a broader population.

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