Development and challenges in setting up an international bone infection registry

Area of Science:

• Infectious Diseases
• Clinical Research Methodology
• Public Health

Background:

• Osteomyelitis presents a growing global health challenge, exacerbated by multidrug-resistant organisms.
• A lack of centralized data collection hinders research for improved bone infection treatments.
• This study details the process and lessons learned in establishing a multi-continent registry for osteomyelitis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a multicenter, international registry for prospective data collection on osteomyelitis.
• To gather comprehensive patient, clinical, and surgical data for future analysis.
• To assess patient outcomes and collect serological samples over a 1-year follow-up period.

Main Methods:

• A prospective, multicenter, international registry was implemented.
• Included patients aged 18+ with confirmed *S. aureus* long bone infection.
• Utilized validated outcome measures (SF-36, Parker Mobility, Katz Index) and serological sampling.

Main Results:

• Recruitment faced initial slowness, leading to adjusted targets and extended enrollment.
• Successfully enrolled 292 patients across 18 sites in 10 countries on 4 continents.
• Overcame logistical and language barriers through courier services and local monitoring.

Conclusions:

• Multicenter registries are effective for accumulating large case numbers for osteomyelitis research.
• Coordinating data collection across numerous international sites presents significant challenges.
• Well-defined data collection practices are crucial for ensuring registry data quality.